Given the blessing of having several months in the
In the Franciscan Chapel, one of the moving traditions at Easter time is the memory of The Apparition of Jesus to His Mother.
Around the Holy Sepulchre was the
(Eugene Hoade OFM. Franciscan Prinitng Press,
"Most high, glorious God, enlighten the darkness of my heart. Lord, instill in me a faith that is unerring, a hope that is certain, a love that is perfect; a sensitivity and a knowlegde that I may accomplish your holy and true command". (Prayer before the Crucifix by St. Francis of
Christ Appearing to His Mother
Fr. Michael Morris, O.P. Professor of Religion and the Arts, given us an admirable account of the tradition highlighted in the famous painting.
There is no mention in Scripture of her whereabouts and she is not singled out as one of the specific individuals to whom Christ made an appearance. But while the Gospel says nothing, Christian tradition has long taken it for granted that Christ appeared to his mother first. For it is logical that she who had shared most in his passion should also share in his glory. This opinion has been held by the Doctors of the Church and by the faithful at large from the earliest times. In the fifth century, the author Sedulius maintained that in the splendour of his risen life Christ first revealed himself to his mother. For at the annunciation she was the means by which he entered the world; likewise she would be the first to witness his entry into glory. Bathed in that glory of the Risen One, she anticipates the Church's splendour.
According to a popular thirteenth-century work called Meditations on the Life of Christ, the Virgin was alone kneeling in her room when her resurrected Son appeared to her. That is how the artist has portrayed her. But in light of Sedelius' balanced equation of the annunciation with the appearance of the resurrected Christ to his mother, it is intriguing to note that the artist has arranged the composition in a way that has a deeper meaning. The two figures here are posing in the same way as the figures would pose in an annunciation scene. In place of an angel bringing the Virgin glad tidings that she will bear the Son of the Most High, Christ himself stands and brings his kneeling mother the glad tidings of his resurrection. The two events act as bookends of revelation in Mary's life, and the artistic rendering of the scene here evokes that earlier event.
Christ shows Mary his wounds, and she raises her hands in wonder with tears of joy running down her cheeks. She is dressed in blue, signifying her unshakeable faith in God, and her cloak is trimmed with the words of the Magnificat emblazoned in gold: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices [in God my Saviour] For he has looked upon his hand maid's lowliness; behold [from now on] will all ages call me blessed. The Mighty One has done great things for me . . .” (Lk 1: 46-49). Above her in the arch, and also colour in celestial blue, floats an angel bearing a crown. The banderole flowing from it has an inscription alluding to a passage found in the Book of Revelation (6: 2): “This woman endured and conquered all; to her was given the crown."
Each of the three panels of the Miraflores Altarpiece is shaped like a church door, arranged as a portal to paradise. Each of the doors is similarly decorated with sculptural flourishes. Painted in grisaille, the decorative archivolts on this right panel painting contain little scenes of episodes in the life of the Virgin: three holy Women with the Virgin, the Assumption, Pentecost, the announcement of Mary's death, the death of the Virgin, and Mary's coronation in heaven. On either side of the arch we see figures standing on pedestals with elaborate baldachins over their heads. On the right is
The Miraflores Altarpiece was painted for the Carthusian monastery of that name which contained a royal mausoleum. Thus the theme of the triptych, the cycle of life, was fitting for a chapel devoted to the dead. And it is to Mary that we pray for help at the hour of our death. That association recalls the words of the late Pope John Paul ll who, at a general audience made on May 21, 1997, spoke the following words:
"Present at Calvary on Good Friday (see Jn 19: 25) and in the Upper Room on Pentecost (see Acts 1: 14), the Blessed Virgin too was probably a privileged witness of Christ's resurrection, completing in this way her participation in all the essential moments of the paschal mystery. Welcoming the risen Jesus, Mary is also a sign and an anticipation of humanity, which hopes to achieve its fulfilment through the resurrection of the dead.
"In the Easter season, the Christian community addresses the Mother of the Lord and invites her to rejoice: '
Illustration: Christ Appearing to His Mother (c. 1435),
right panel painting of the Miraflores Altarpiece,
Rogier van der Weyden (c. 1399-1464
Acknoweldement: Magnificat Vol. 11, No. 2, i-vi
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