Magnificat Cover: Contemplate the Death of God - Holy Week 2015 Contemplate the Death of God Pierre-Marie Dumont Front Cover Artwork Entitled "The Entombment", this work is in fact a “lamentation,” a …More
Magnificat Cover: Contemplate the Death of God - Holy Week 2015
Contemplate the Death of God
Pierre-Marie Dumont
Front Cover Artwork
Entitled "The Entombment", this work is in fact a “lamentation,” a
word that refers to “the weeping women.” The artist has set the
scene not at the foot of the cross, as in traditional representations,
but in the tomb, just as the shroud is about to enclose Christ’s face.
Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus have departed. The Apostles,
after betrayal and denial, have fled. Only the women, the four
Marys, remain. To these, who stood firm all through the night,
would it be given to first witness the dawn of the Resurrection.
Mary Magdalene is recognizable by her hair: flame red and
worn loose, it is a sign of the free rein she gave her fiery sensuality
during her life as a sinner. Yet it is precisely she who has the honor
of shrouding the body she once bathed in tears and dried with her
hair after anointing him like an anticipated burial. Here, the sym-
bol of her licentiousness henceforth testifies to the true freedom
of her love, delivered from the shackles of concupiscence. Mary,
the mother of James the Lesser, supports the Mother of Jesus, and
strikes her forehead in a Romantic gesture of desolation beyond the
endurance of the human heart. Mary of Nazareth wears a widow’s
veil. With clasped hands and closed eyes, she contemplates in her
heart this mystery of mysteries, and worships in the fate of her Son
the inconceivable fulfillment of the words that had been spoken to
her on behalf of the Lord. Her beautiful carven face seems etched
by her seven sorrows. Finally, Mary Salome, wife of Zebedee and
mother of James and John, throws herself on the mortal remains
of her Savior. Well might she try to take him in her arms, to hold
him back, to stay his departure to the dark land of the dead; but
she has understood the futility of revolt, and abandons herself to
the fulfillment of the will of God.
These four women at the tomb well illustrate the four attitudes
of the Christian soul as it contemplates the mysteries of Christ: pure
love, compassion, faith, and self-abandonment
www.magnificat.net
Contemplate the Death of God
Pierre-Marie Dumont
Front Cover Artwork
Entitled "The Entombment", this work is in fact a “lamentation,” a
word that refers to “the weeping women.” The artist has set the
scene not at the foot of the cross, as in traditional representations,
but in the tomb, just as the shroud is about to enclose Christ’s face.
Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus have departed. The Apostles,
after betrayal and denial, have fled. Only the women, the four
Marys, remain. To these, who stood firm all through the night,
would it be given to first witness the dawn of the Resurrection.
Mary Magdalene is recognizable by her hair: flame red and
worn loose, it is a sign of the free rein she gave her fiery sensuality
during her life as a sinner. Yet it is precisely she who has the honor
of shrouding the body she once bathed in tears and dried with her
hair after anointing him like an anticipated burial. Here, the sym-
bol of her licentiousness henceforth testifies to the true freedom
of her love, delivered from the shackles of concupiscence. Mary,
the mother of James the Lesser, supports the Mother of Jesus, and
strikes her forehead in a Romantic gesture of desolation beyond the
endurance of the human heart. Mary of Nazareth wears a widow’s
veil. With clasped hands and closed eyes, she contemplates in her
heart this mystery of mysteries, and worships in the fate of her Son
the inconceivable fulfillment of the words that had been spoken to
her on behalf of the Lord. Her beautiful carven face seems etched
by her seven sorrows. Finally, Mary Salome, wife of Zebedee and
mother of James and John, throws herself on the mortal remains
of her Savior. Well might she try to take him in her arms, to hold
him back, to stay his departure to the dark land of the dead; but
she has understood the futility of revolt, and abandons herself to
the fulfillment of the will of God.
These four women at the tomb well illustrate the four attitudes
of the Christian soul as it contemplates the mysteries of Christ: pure
love, compassion, faith, and self-abandonment
www.magnificat.net