Take Care of the Bride | Giclee Print

Take Care of the Bride

| High Quality | Archival | Giclee Print of Original Art |

I am honored when people ask me to paint this holy man in some way, I feel like I get to spend time with him a little extra during the process. Here is my most recent painting, titled, Take Care of The Bride. It is a reflection on his fatherly encounter and guidance, to his brother clergymen. The painting symbolically points to the Theology of the Body as St. John Paul II motions upward to the Holy family, he is pointing to the Church, Christs bride. The almond shape (Mandala), is symbolic for the heavens and earth meeting (two circles meeting in the center) and also represents the entrance to the womb of the mother, where we all begin to grow first. In the holy family, you see communion and unity, you see giving and receiving, you see protecting and honoring, you see love. Mary is feeding the Christ child, as a mother cares for her children, so should the church, nurturing them with love and tenderness. Mary is overflowing from what God the father has given her and she pours it out to her child. St. Joseph stands in protection holding a church and staff in hand. The Church building he holds is a call to build up the church, yes, but also to protect it, to protect the family. The Landscape in the background hints at St. John Paull II's love for the mountains and finding God in nature and also shows how life is. We climb up many mountains in our life, some very difficult, but each bring its own beauty and a strength leading us to where God wills for us to be, not only physically but in character.

Finally, you will notice the cross in the distance. It is a famous cross in St. Augustine Florida which is said to “mark the approximate site where in 1565 the cross of Christianity was first permanently planted in what is now the United States.” You also see a statue of Father Francisco López de Mendoza Grajales, who was the chaplain of an expedition of settlers that landed in St. Augustine. Father, celebrated the first Thanksgiving Mass on the grounds you see depicted here and is honored in statue for the monumental moment as well. I will note also that the actual church St. Joseph holds is the Shrine of our Lady La Leche. The devotion to Our Lady of La Leche was brought over from Spain in the late 1500s,[7] and the mission grounds served as the site of the first Marian shrine in the United States. These moments of new beginnings that happened long ago, point us to a growing church and a leading from the Lord to share his love all over the world, even today.

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