Honoring Mary - Month of May

by artist Lea Ravotti

As Catholics, we meditate on Christ the Babe, Christ the Teacher, and Christ Crucified, but we rarely focus our attentions on the unborn Christ Child, who speaks to the hearts of all mothers, and brings us to reflection on the gift of life.

In December 2013, Father Andrew Apostoli featured the Preborn Jesus’ image and devotion on EWTN’s Sunday Night Prime program. Vessel of the Preborn Jesus was also presented in person to the Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Carlo Vigano in Washington D.C., to Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz in Cracow, Poland, and to the Holy Father Pope Francis in Rome.

As you can see in the image, the Baby Jesus is depicted in the womb of the Blessed Mother, surrounded by a Rosary. This Rosary represents the spiritual connection between Mary and Jesus and their profound bond as Mother and Son, in imitation of the umbilical cord which is the lifeline between mother and child. Just as the umbilical cord is the font of physical life, the Rosary is the font of spiritual life. By extension, the Rosary reflects the link between Mary and the whole human family.

In the painting, the Blessed Virgin is seen walking at the beginning of time, carrying the Light of the World in her womb. She is the key figure, dominating the painting—she is the woman at the center of our salvation history.

In Mary, Our Lord’s presence shines forth, and shows us all the way of God. This narrow path, illuminated by Christ, will keep us on the safe road to heaven. Isaiah proclaims, “I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Is 49:6), and again, “The people who walked in darkness, on them has light shined” (Is 9:2).

The light motif is seen again and again throughout early Christianity. Psalm 119:105 describes the Law of the Lord as “a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” Christ is “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel” (Luke 2:32). He will “give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:79). When we follow the true light of Christ, we know that we are safely on the right path to the Promised Land (see Ex 13:21). Jesus himself is the light that drives away darkness, deception, and even death (see Jn 1:9).

The stars above Mary’s head symbolize the light of divine guidance, and designate the Virgin Mary as “Stella Maris.” “If you are driven upon the rocks of tribulation, look to the Star, call on Mary,” Saint Bernard of Clairvaux reminds us. She is our best companion and guide to her Son. “Mary is the Eternal blueprint in the Mind of God, the one whom God loved before she was a creature. He…had her in mind at the beginning of time” (The World’s First Love, Fulton Sheen).

“On this journey [to Christ], the Church proceeds along the path already trodden by the Virgin Mary…we wish to turn in a special way to her, the one who began to shine like a true ‘Morning Star’ (Stella Matutina),” John Paul II writes in Redemptoris Mater. “For just as this star, together with the ‘dawn,’ precedes the rising of the sun, so Mary from the time of her Immaculate Conception preceded the coming of the Savior, the rising of the “Sun of Justice” in the history of the human race…The Blessed Virgin Mary continues to ‘go before’ the People of God. Her exceptional pilgrimage of faith represents a constant point of reference for the Church and for all humanity. Mary does not cease to be the ‘Star of the Sea’ (Stella Maris) for all those who are still on the journey of faith.”

The stars in the painting also allude to the figure of the Messiah. In many parts of the Bible, the Messiah is portrayed as a light or a star, shining in the darkness of sin and death. In Numbers 24:17, it is said that “a star shall come forth out of Jacob.” This star is seen in Jewish and Christian tradition as a prophetic image of the coming Messiah. Even Jesus calls himself a star in Revelations22:16: “I Jesus have sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star.” He is the “morning star that rises in your hearts” (2 Pet 1:19). Saint Peter connects ancient references to the planet Venus as the “morning star” to the return of Christ in glory, an event that will dawn upon the world at the end of days.

The landscape depicted reflects words from Proverbs: “The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made anything, from the beginning. I was set up from eternity, and of old, before the earth was made” (8:22-23).

White lilies are the symbols of purity, complementing the two dimensions of the woman’s personality—virginity and motherhood. Mary is the perfect fulfillment of this personality; both Virgin and mother, she is our example of love, devotion, and joy in the Lord.

The Blessed Virgin is dressed in humble, traditional clothes, but her gold halo marks her as the Queen of Heaven. In her, dignity and humility, majesty and modesty, lowliness and exaltation are one. Through her Fiat, she attains a perfect union with God, thus becoming the archetype of the personal dignity of women. She is the glorious Mother of God, and our mother as well.

Mary’s response of willingness to the Archangel Gabriel is reflected in her face. Her composure is pensive, but fearless, determined to do as God has asked of her. She seeks to understand Gabriel’s world, and to intimately carry Christ in her womb. Grace and joy are brought together in her acceptance of God’s plan.

“The level of any civilization is the level of its womanhood,” Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen writes. Through my representation of Mary, I want to bring all women to a new discovery of their supreme vocation, and to the meaning of their femininity.

And by painting Christ as a preborn child, nestled in his mother’s womb, I hope to increase awareness of the infinite value of every human life, and to save the lives of unborn children. In today’s world, hundreds of thousands of children are killed in abortions every day. Vessel of the Preborn Jesus is an attempt to bring the sanctity of human life again to the forefront of our consciousness, to remind viewers that all life—no matter what stage—is a precious gift from God, to be protected and revered. The unborn Child in Mary’s womb grew to be our Savior, and from conception to death he is precious as a child of God, as are all children.

I close with a prayer of devotion to Mary, the mother of the preborn Jesus:

O Mother of Divine Grace,

Vessel of the Preborn Jesus,

Please bless all who look upon this image of Our Lord within your womb.

May it inspire us to have a deep appreciation for the gift of every human life, from the moment of conception.

May it lead us to make reparation for the sin of abortion.

May it bring us to a greater understanding that we are all part of the Mystical Body of Christ, and that you are Our Mother.

(Bernadette Conklin)