Tag: Sculpture

A Lady full of Grace

Mary emerging, a work in progress, a sculpture by Kay Gibbons and photographed by her.
For reflection see the end of the piece below.

Today, August 15^th, many Christians celebrate the Blessed Virgin Mary.

There are many interpretations of this festival and much that has been added to the simple picture given of her in the Bible. Theologically it can be argued that Mary is Primus Inter Pares – first among Equals amongst Christians. She is, of course, also Theotokos – God-bearer. This is what makes her so special a human being.

English Christianity has always had a special relationship with Mary, partly because of the Glastonbury legend that she came to England after the Resurrection and partly because a biblically-based Christianity cannot ignore her. There are more English churches dedicated to St. Mary than any other saint and even those not dedicated to her usually have a ‘Lady Chapel’ which takes its name from her.

The Mary of the Gospel has much to teach Christians about what it actually means to be a Christian. Take the Annunciation for example (Luke 2:26-38). We see her singled out by God for a very special purpose—the human instrument in God’s plan for the world’s salvation. A young maiden whose faith is deeply rooted in the Jewish tradition is confronted by an angel. His announcement didn’t initially thrill her and she tried to wriggle out of God’s plan with objections and a sense of being unworthy. However, God’s assurances were enough for her to accept her role with humility and obedience. Mary’s ‘Yes’ to God was hard won but total when it came. Her instinctive reaction was to turn things away from herself and when she visited her cousin Elizabeth she was greeted as a woman blessed among women. Mary immediately says the hymn of praise to God which we know as the Magnificat. All her thoughts are rooted in God and from the moment of the Incarnation through to the Crucifixion her concern is for the child she bore at God’s bidding. The best statues of her show her looking at the child in her arms pointing us to Jesus himself. This was her purpose.

Her humility, obedience, praise of God, love and dogged determination to see things through -The Crucifixion where she stood at the Cross when others fled- are all things that should mark out the Christian life. The Orthodox Church calls her ‘Theotokos’ – God-bearer. That is the role of every Christian—to bear Christ to the world. We can learn much from this gentle but at times fiesty, Lady who was truly ‘full of grace’ – praying that we might be too.

The art which heads this article is by my artist friend, Kay Gibbons. It is a work of stone. She was working the stone in garden but was making too much noise and dust. When she told me that she was covered in honey coloured stone dust I suggested that she might stand nicely on the 4^th Plinth in Trafalgar Square, London! Pocketing that irreverent thought, we talked of the effect of bringing the sculpture into the kitchen. It has changed the perception. As Kay said, our perceptions are constantly changing. Here amongst the kitchen utensils this was true. Mary was, in effect, being rescued from being a figure out of reach (On a pedestal, as it were), into someone who was accessible. That accessibility brings us nearer to the heart of Jesus. It was St Teresa of Avila who coined the phrase, “God walks among the Pots & Pans.” So Mary emerges in our picture from kitchen artefacts. The white and black lines are traced outlines of chopping and draining boards, pan stands; Kilner jar, even tea bags. Mary is placed among ordinary things. This is not to downgrade her but rather the opposite. She is consecrating with God’s grace the ordinary to make them extraordinary, just as the simple maiden in Nazareth became herself extraordinary through God’s grace to make her mother of Jesus, Mother of God.

Kitchens are holy places where food is cooked and dishes are made clean. They are also often places where people gather at parties and converse. They have a community role. In Kay’s picture we see something of this and maybe your reflection will find much more.
There is never one way of regarding and contemplating God, Jesus, Mary or the Saints. Or, for that matter, the ordinary, extraordinary people we meet in prayer and in our lives.
In all, and in different ways, we experience the Grace of God at work

Hail Mary, Full of Grace,
Blessed are you among women,
Blessed are you among Christians,
Blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.

[Mr G]

They Fled by Night

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is fled-by-night-jdev.jpg

Cartmel Priory | They Fled by Night – Josefina de Vasconcellos
photo – Mr G.

The account of the birth and infancy of Jesus have many highlights which build up the Christmas Story. First, the Annunciation to Mary and later, to Joseph, the visit of the Shepherds and then of the Magi, known more popularly as the 3 Kings. The Christmas season ends with the blessing of Jesus by Simeon and Anna in the Temple. The Christmas story is timeless and forever fresh.

In the midst of the joy and expectant promise that a (the) Saviour has been born for us, there is, however, one moment of darkness and deep sadness. We remember it as the killing of the Holy Innocents by Herod who felt threatened by the prospect of a King born into Judaism or, as the Magi put it, the child who has been born king of the Jews? They went on to tell King Herod, for we have observed his star at its rising and have come to pay him homage. These words put fear into Herod and he felt a threat to his own reign.
Threatened people behave irrationally and often cruelly and this was true of Herod. The result was the massacre of the innocent children 2 years of age or under in and around Bethlehem.
We remember this dreadful thing in our prayers and liturgy on December 28^th.

But we almost lose sight of something which the New Testament covers in 3 scant verses. In Matthew’s Gospel (2: 13-15) we read that, after the Magi returned home, by another way, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream to warn him. Herod was searching for Jesus to destroy him and then instructed Joseph, Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt. The Holy Family were to stay there until they are told it is safe to return home. So Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt.

Joseph, Mary and Jesus literally fled from danger – the tyranny of one man who, without the angel’s message could have resulted in the death of God’s plan to save the World through Jesus. Jesus thus began his early life as a Refugee and that has immense significance today for us.

Before the Coronavirus took hold of our world, the plight of the refugee was perhaps the most heartbreaking and divisive thing which the human race and its leaders had to face. Through no fault of their own countless numbers of refugees have been displaced from their homes and have desperately wandered around the Earth looking for safety, shelter love and care. In the process of this they faced immense danger,and used by unscrupulous people who used their plight for their own ends. If the history of this time ever comes to be written, the way refugees have been treated will be to humanity’s shame and condemnation. Even now, as I write this, our own Government is failing people both from the present time and the 1960’s and this is repeated globally. Yet very few of us who live in our country today can claim that our roots are anything but as immigrants. Even the nearest we come to native is Celt, Irish, Scots and Romano-British who began their long journey as part of Indo-European migration from the East in the dim and distant past.

From a religious point of view, of course, we need to remember what the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 24:

The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,
the world, and those who live in it;

We are merely stewards of the earth but with a big responsibility. We have a real care and sense of justice, both from the well-being of humanity but equally, for the care and stewardship of the animals, fish and birds; who tenant the earth. Also, of course for Nature, climate and the planet itself.
We have been given great and wonderful gifts but they are not given for us to exploit . Yet, few Governments take their responsibilities seriously. Self-centred interest always seems to take precedence. Very few who supposedly serve their country or the earth are capabable of seeing and responding to a bigger picture, a greater responsibility. They’re just not up to the job with which we entrust them.

It is good, therefore, that Jesus understood and experienced the plight of the poor and the life of a refugee.

Of course, as quite often, whenever something unpalatable is shown to us, we anesthetize it. It came as no surprise, therefore, that this Christmas I received a card entitled, Rest on the flight into Egypt. It is by the Dutch/Flemish painter Gerard David and it was painted about 1510. It is a very beautiful card of a painting which shows Mary and Jesus resting while Joseph is knocking walnuts off a tree with a stick. The contented donkey is enjoying a little feed! The baby, dandled on his mother’s knee, wearing an androgynous dress, is cheerfully picking at a bunch of grapes. Our Lady is in a sumptuous two tone blue dress with a red lining. It is all beautifully arranged with not a fold or a hair is out of place! The surrounding countryside is wonderfully manicured. And, lovely though it is, it is completely false.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is gerard_david_-_the_rest_on_the_flight_into_egypt_national_gallery_of_art.jpg

Rest on the Flight into Egypt | Gerard David

There are plenty of others similar to it. But the sculpture which heads this article is very different. It was sculpted by Josefina de Vasconcellos and it is called They Fled by Night. It is of the Holy Family, also resting on their journey but what a contrast!

Mary and Joseph are totally exhausted both from the journey and from what they are fleeing from. Theirs is a journey away from death. Mary is slumped against Joseph, who worn out himself is holding her head, gently and supportively. Mary is stretched out asleep. Jesus, on the other hand, has woken up and is leaping forward. (Josefina often shows Jesus full of life and, as it were, raring to go! Her statue of mother and child in Blackburn Cathedral captures the same vibrancy).

There is a sense that whilst behind them there is darkness and fear and uncertainty, in front of them is a new life and a new way of being. Josefina has captured not just the refugees running from danger but rather towards a hope, a new joy and an understanding of what it means to live within the love of God.

Josefina carved the statue for exhibiting at St. Martin-in-the-Field in London. It was on display initially during World Refugee Year in 1959-60, as part of developing awareness and support of refugees across the globe. At the suggestion of Josefina it was later presented to Cartmel Priory. It can be found to the left of the entrance, made of resin bronze. It is utterly breathtaking and conveys an immediate message of the anxiety and hazards of the plight of the refugee. Something that Jesus understood more than most and for whom they have a special place in God’s heart.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is flight.jpg

Cartmel Priory | They Fled by Night – Josefina de Vasconcellos
photo – Mr G.

Mother and Child

My friend Kay Gibbons is an artist. The illustration above is of her sculpture, Mother and Child.

Kay reflects on a connection between her statue and something that happened which deepened her understanding of it. Her reflection hints at the connection between Mary and Jesus but also between a mother and her child.

An incident

“This morning I woke at 4.30am with a start .
The bangle which my youngest son had given me had come undone and the little silver heart had gone . This was so awful ! I searched the bed , under the bed , shook my jumper from the day before, searched the shower, the bath mat. I went downstairs with my torch shining on the ground hoping to see the heart shine from some dark corner of the floor !
Thoughts raced – I will never be able to hoover again until I found it !
Then I thought. My Tesco delivery came last night ( a very nice gentleman on furlough from BA . He’s a pilot.) I put the bags in the kitchen drawer. I looked and with great joy was reunited with the silver heart with much rejoicing to St Anthony ! *

Such joy to be united again, a tangible symbol of his love; of a love which only months before was nearly stolen by a very close encounter with death
Such is the joy and bond between a mother and chilSuch is the joy and bond between ourselves and the grace of God seen in his offering of the Son of God through Mary. Such is our bond with each other in the Community of the Church .
Such is the expression of joy when a Mother is reunited with her child and her child reunited with her . Our souls rejoice if we are lost and then found and return to the embrace of the one which gave us life , to share love, laughter and tears.

Today’s incident was not the inspiration behind my Mother and Child but it has in an indirect link. If we always keep our inbox free of clutter – we will see the messages !

Today my inbox was empty and had lots of space for messages from on High ! Even a touch of Handel’s Messiah in the background!
Today I read my messages and it’s fascinating to see how they are echoing into the night !”

You can see more of Kay’s work on Instagram.

*For those who don’t know it, the reference to St. Anthony is because St. Anthony of Padua is the patron Saint of lost things – though he only helps if you have done a very thorough search yourself! He is not to be confused with St Antony of Egypt who, as a Desert Father, lived the life of a hermit and did not have little more than morsels of bread and water.)