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| Our Lady of Perpetual Help. File by Pablete [Public domain] |
Today's post is the last in the series and considers briefly the symbolism discernible in the icon.
Totus tuus ego sum et omnia mea tua sunt.
Tecum tutus semper sum.
Ad Jesum per Mariam
[ ] References in the text to numbered footnotes are not hyperlinked but may be found at the end of the relevant text.
Composition
Our Lady is tenderly holding Jesus, her head inclined towards Him. She is supporting Him with her left hand and clasps His hands with her right. Mary is making direct eye contact with us but the fingers of her hands, together with her right arm, form diagonals that shift the focus our gaze towards her son: see our previous post on Our Lady as 'hodegetria' (the 'indicator of the way'). This focus on her son is reinforced by the downward gaze of the Archangels. The Christ Child, secure in the arms of His mother, is looking upwards over His shoulder to His left.
Seat of Wisdom
'One of Mary's titles is 'Sedes Sapientiæ,' the 'Seat of Wisdom'. Mary has this title in her Litany, because the Son of God, who is also called in Scripture the Word and Wisdom of God, once dwelt in her, and then, after His birth of her, was carried in her arms and seated in her lap in His first years. Thus, being, as it were, the human throne of Him who reigns in heaven, she is called the Seat of Wisdom. In the poet's words:—
His throne, thy bosom blest,
O Mother undefiled,
That Throne, if aught beneath the skies,
Beseems the sinless Child.'[1]
(From notes made by John Henry Newman (1801-1890) for his May meditations on Mary in the Litany of Loreto.)
[1] Verse seven from a seventeen verse poem: source,The Christian Year (1827). IX. “Bless’d are the pure in heart” By John Keble (1792–1866) (The Purification). John Keble, 1792-1866, ordained Anglican Priest in 1816, tutor at Oxford from 1818 to 1823, published in 1827 a book of poems called The Christian Year, containing poems for the Sundays and Feast Days of the Church Year.
At His right hand
In the icon, Our Lady is situated at the right hand of her son who is gazing heavenwards, towards His Father. Some years after His Ascension, His mother would be assumed into heaven, and take her place of honour at the right hand of her Son, there to be crowned Queen. In the Rosarium Aureum, we pray:
Qui te super aethera
potenter exaltavit:
et in sua dextera
decenter collocavit. Ave Maria.
Who now for thee to glory raised,
A blessed rest provideth,
At His right hand in honour placed,
Where He in bliss abideth. Hail Mary.
Eye hath not seen...
Our Lady is gazing directly and deeply into our hearts. The Archangels' gaze is fixed upon Christ. Christ's gaze is turned heavenwards. Which ever we look at it, we face vital questions for our conscience: In our own life, where do we choose to direct our gaze? What do we see? What are our blind spots? Where should we be looking?
The disciples once asked Christ why He spoke in parables. He replied to them:
[13] Therefore do I speak to them in parables: because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.We observe that the expressions in the icon are serious, because sin is deadly serious.With Our Lady's help and through her intercession, however, which she never ceases to offer us, we may yet hope for mercy from her Divine Son, in true contrition and in offering reparation. The Apostle takes up this theme of hope what we may dare to behold one day:
Ideo in parabolis loquor eis : quia videntes non vident, et audientes non audiunt, neque intelligunt.
[14] And the prophecy of Isaias is fulfilled in them, who saith: By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand: and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive.
Et adimpletur in eis prophetia Isaiae, dicentis : Auditu audietis, et non intelligetis : et videntes videbitis, et non videbitis.
[15] For the heart of this people is grown gross, and with their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes they have shut: lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
Incrassatum est enim cor populi hujus, et auribus graviter audierunt, et oculos suos clauserunt : nequando videant oculis, et auribus audiant, et corde intelligant, et convertantur, et sanem eos.
[16] But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear.
Vestri autem beati oculi quia vident, et aures vestrae quia audiunt.
[17] For, amen, I say to you, many prophets and just men have desired to see the things that you see, and have not seen them, and to hear the things that you hear and have not heard them.
Amen quippe dico vobis, quia multi prophetae et justi cupierunt videre quae videtis, et non viderunt : et audire quae auditis, et non audierunt. [Matt 13]
[9] But, as it is written: That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him.
Sed sicut scriptum est : Quod oculus non vidit, nec auris audivit, nec in cor hominis ascendit, quae praeparavit Deus iis qui diligunt illum : [1 Cor 2]
Mary as the Gate of Heaven
Mary makes direct eye contact with us and draws our focus towards her son, Jesus ('God saves'). His heavenly gaze towards His Father should raise our own hearts and minds towards Our Father, in Heaven. Mary was assumed into Heaven after her death and received a Crown and royal privileges. She becomes for us a gateway to Heaven, a gateway through which divine graces are channelled so that we may come to know, love and serve God in this world and be happy with Him forever in the next.
Marian litanies, antiphons and hymns are rich in references to this role. For example:
Queen assumed into heaven : Regina in caelum assumpta;
HAIL, O Queen of Heav'n enthron'd: AVE, Regina caelorum. [Ave Regina Coelorum]
Blessed gate of heaven : felix caeli porta; [Ave Maris Stella]
Gate of heaven, R. pray for us. Ianua caeli, R. ora pro nobis.
Thou gate of heaven’s high Lord, the door through which the light hath poured.
Tu Regis alti janua, Et aula lucis fulgida: [O Gloriosa Virginum]
Hail, Gate of Heaven,
With glory now crowned,
Bring us to safety
Where thy Son is found,
true joy to see.
Paradisi
clavis et ianua,
fac nos duci
quo, Mater, gloria
coronaris. Amen [Flos Carmeli, 13th century]
Christ's Passion
The angels in the picture are holding instruments of His Passion and death, with the angel on the left bearing the gall, the lance and the reed, while the angel on the right holds the cross and nails. Christ's halo also features His cross.
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| IESVS NAZARENVS REX IVDAEORVM. JJ Tissot. |
The top one represents the plaque on which Pilate had ordered to be written: Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.
[By User:Tadas12 - Own work by the original uploader. Public Domain]
The falling sandal
Some interpreters see the falling sandal as an indication of the haste shown by the child Jesus as He quickly fled into His mother's arms for safety when He saw the instruments of his own Passion for the first time.
Others see a reference to covenants. According to the Book of Ruth, removing one's sandal means to conclude a contract. Here, Christ is establishing a contract with us, a new and everlasting covenant.[2]
Moses removed his sandals before approaching the burning bush,[3] The burning bush is sometimes seen as prefiguring Mary's perpetual virginity.[4]
We recall that Christ's cousin, the greatest of all the prophets, stated he was unworthy to loosen the straps of Christ's sandals.[5]
The colours
The colours used in the icon have been given various interpretations. Our Lady wears a red tunic and a blue mantle with a green lining. According to some commentators, red is said to be the colour worn by virgins in Palestine at the time of Christ, while blue was the colour worn by mothers. Others say that red represents divinity and blue represents humanity. Mary (blue) was the Theorokos; she carried God within her as her son.[4] Yet others see red as representing humanity and blue as the colour of the heavenly or divine. Adam was created from the earth and his name may derive from the Hebrew אדם ('adam) meaning "to be red", referring to his ruddy colouring or the colour of the earth from which he was formed. There may be a word play on the Hebrew אֲדָמָה ('adamah) "earth").
Notes
[1] [32] And all nations shall be gathered together before him, and he shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats:
et congregabuntur ante eum omnes gentes, et separabit eos ab invicem, sicut pastor segregat oves ab haedis :
[33] And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left.
et statuet oves quidem a dextris suis, haedos autem a sinistris.
[34] Then shall the king say to them that shall be on his right hand: Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Tunc dicet rex his qui a dextris ejus erunt : Venite benedicti Patris mei, possidete paratum vobis regnum a constitutione mundi :
[41] Then he shall say to them also that shall be on his left hand: Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels.
Tunc dicet et his qui a sinistris erunt : Discedite a me maledicti in ignem aeternum, qui paratus est diabolo, et angelis ejus :
[46] And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting.
Et ibunt hi in supplicium aeternum : justi autem in vitam aeternam. [Matt 25]
[2] [8] So Booz said to his kinsman: Put off thy shoe. And immediately he took it off from his foot.
Dixit ergo propinquo suo Booz : Tolle calceamentum tuum. Quod statim solvit de pede suo.
[9] And he said to the ancients and to all the people: You are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and Chelion's, and Mahalon's, of the hand of Noemi:
At ille majoribus natu, et universo populo : Testes vos, inquit, estis hodie, quod possederim omnis quae fuerunt Elimelech, et Chelion, et Mahalon, tradente Noemi :
[10] And have taken to wife Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahalon, to raise up the name of the deceased in his inheritance lest his name be cut off, from among his family and his brethren and his people. You, I say, are witnesses of this thing.
et Ruth Moabitidem, uxorem Mahalon, in conjugium sumpserim, ut suscitem nomen defuncti in haereditate sua, ne vocabulum ejus de familia sua ac fratribus et populo deleatur. Vos, inquam, hujus rei testes estis. [Ruth 4]
[3] [5] And he said: Come not nigh hither, put off the shoes from thy feet: for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
At ille : Ne appropies, inquit, huc : solve calceamentum de pedibus tuis : locus enim, in quo stas, terra sancta est. [Ex 3]
[4] It is said of Christ that He is a “consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29). The fire burning inside the bush is a symbol of Christ and the bush itself symbolizes the Virgin. In the song of The Burning Bush, sung during the fourth month of the Coptic calendar, the faithful chant:
The burning bush seen by Moses[5] [26] John answered them, saying: I baptize with water; but there hath stood one in the midst of you, whom you know not.
The prophet in the wilderness;
The fire inside it was aflame
But never consumed or injured it.
The same with the Theotokos; Mary
Carried the fire of Divinity
Nine months in her holy body.
Respondit eis Joannes, dicens : Ego baptizo in aqua : medius autem vestrum stetit, quem vos nescitis.
[27] The same is he that shall come after me, who is preferred before me: the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to loose.
Ipse est qui post me venturus est, qui ante me factus est : cujus ego non sum dignus ut solvam ejus corrigiam calceamenti. [John 1]
Totus tuus ego sum et omnia mea tua sunt.
Tecum tutus semper sum.
Ad Jesum per Mariam
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