The Pieta
I remember the very first time I say Michelangelo's Pieta- The Pity. I was on my first trip to Rome and I desperately wanted to see this piece of art. I had heard so much of it from my Grandmother who had seen it many years before.
To say it took my breath away is an understatement. At some point my system kicked in and I took a huge inward breath.
It is a stunning beautiful depiction of the dead Jesus in the arms of him mother.
What you have to understand is this was carved out of marble in 1498-1499.
The surface of the marble is so smooth you can almost see your reflection back from the marble.
Whenever I return to Rome, I try and get to see it one more time, just to gaze upon it. It is truly a work of art in all its context.
Every time I see it I am moved to envisage the scene just after the death of Christ. I feel his mother weeping in sorrow and his friends standing around looking lost and not sure what to do next. I feel the hopelessness of their actions. A wonderful human, gone with it all the hope of the world.
Of course we all know the story does not end there. Jesus conquers death and rises to glory, and his death and resurrection is payment for our sins and the sins of our forefathers and our children.
That is why The Pieta is so beautiful, to me at least, because it reminds me of the immediate sorrow at the loss of something truly wonderful for my wrongdoing. It reminds me that I can be a better person and live a life closer to the Truth, and that his death whilst sad, in all His glory, he rose from the tomb on the third day and he did this all for me! To forgive me. It seems unfathomable.
But as the scriptures say:
He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. Romans 4: 25 [NIV]
Steve Fogo
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