Speak to Me

Who's played Scrabble on the free Words with Friends app? I love it. You can play Scrabble with all your friends - you just have to know their user name. Start a game with me -- my user name is Heltonsa. One of my last plays is where I got the inspiration for this post. It was the word pieta. So now I can't get the Pieta out of my mind. If you haven't guessed from some of my previous posts, art is one of my passions. I like to create but I also love to admire the creations of others.  I have lots of favorites when it comes to art but I must admit, Michelangelo's Pieta is my all time favorite. It speaks to me.

Michelangelo is a creative genius. It's hard to believe that this started as a huge piece of rock. The intricacy of the details is amazing. The undulating folds of Mary's robe transforms the hard, cold stone into a seemingly soft, warm, touchable material. The skill and cleverness of deceiving our eye by making her figure larger to overcome the awkwardness of an adult woman cradling her outstretched fully-grown son is brilliant. I've always been awestruck at how masterful sculptors can create bones and tendons and veins as you can see in Jesus' nakedness. And I have to give kudos to Michelangelo for making a should-be 50 year-old Mary young. I have to think this wasn't a shortcut on his part to get out of sculpting a face that has seen its more-than fair share of trials and tribulations since there is no doubt he is skillful with wrinkles. I'm sure he intended to preserve her in her most beautiful state but maybe, just maybe he loved women and was on to the fact that we want to look young forever!

All this is just about the work itself. What speaks to me the most is how it makes me feel. I'm sure everyone has different opinions but if you are a mother, yours are probably much the same as mine. The heart-wrenching sorrow of cradling your dying child is an excruciating feeling to imagine. But at the same time knowing that your child has accomplished the insurmountable, fulfilled his life and so many others, brought joy and faith to the masses, and that the kingdom of heaven awaits him . . .

I've been fortunate enough to see this magnificent work of art in real life at St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. It is a sight to behold . . . although you can still get its full effect from a picture. (You can only view it from afar and behind bullet-proof glass at the church. That may have something to do with the fact that some crazed scientist attacked the sculpture with a geologist's hammer while shouting "I am Jesus Christ," then onlookers took many of the pieces of marble that flew off. Later, some pieces were returned, but many were not, including Mary's nose, which had to be reconstructed from a block cut out of her back.)


On a completely different note, it's Spring Break! I'll be MIA for a while (not that I haven't been lately) and when I get back to the blog, I hope I have some fun stuff to share. See you soon.