The Art of Faith

When I look at the Pieta I am awestruck at the emotion in the image of Mary holding her dead son. The love, pain and numbness. Michelangelo sculpted not only with his hands but with his heart.

The Pieta has always been a favorite of mine. Perhaps because my parents and grandparents each experienced the death a child. Or perhaps it is the reminder that life is a circle. We see the blessed virgin looking down at her helpless son much like she did in the manger in Bethlehem, as an extension of God and his love for humanity. Only now there is also loss. One must imagine that Mary was at that point experiencing the most difficult test of her faith. She had to believe that this end was merely the beginning. While she knew the big picture the message of Christ was bringing, she was a mother. And Michelangelo's masterpiece shows no shining halos, no hovering angels, just a mother grieving her son.

It is the human side of Christianity that often gets lost. The Pieta reminds us of that. We can go into any church and see the statues and paintings of saints with golden halos and symbols of their life's work. They look confidant and serene. But it's the side we don't see that we need to guide us on our journey. The sainted figures most often lived conflicted lives, often leaving a faith they were born into to preach Christianity. And the consequences were torture and execution.

We need to remind ourselves that those stone edifices standing on their pedestals that seem so out of reach were once people just like you and I who chose to listen to God's call and were empowered by their faith to bring others closer to God and put them on a path to heaven. We can choose to do the same. And we have the advantage of the Internet to do it!