“The Heavenly and Earthly Trinities” by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo.
"Murillo, The Heavenly and Earthly Trinities, about 1675-1682 Photo © The National Gallery, London”.
Four things of importance to note in this painting by Murillo. God in Heaven is looking down and blessing the Holy Family. Jesus responds to His Father by looking up to Heaven. Mary is looking at Jesus and perhaps thinking about the Son of God saving the world; whilst Joseph is looking at us, significant this, inviting us to join in the Holy Family.
Not much is known about Jesus’ childhood. The Bible records the story of His birth in Bethlehem and the early days of His life but not much more.
We are left to wonder what He was like as a baby. Crawling on the ground and then taking His first hesitant steps. I wonder what His first words were when He spoke.
One thing for sure though. He was much loved by His earthly parents, who devoted themselves to His up-bringing, until He was ready to start His work on earth as His Father willed.
Like most parents, they must have wished many good things for Him as He grew up, even though they knew who He really was and what His mission in this world was to be.
Mary, however, carried an additional burden in her heart. She knew from those early days what was to happen. Simeon in the temple had told her: “… sorrow, like a sharp sword, will break your own heart”. Luke 2:35. Joseph was there to witness it all.
Can you imagine what they went through as parents? Knowing of the torture and Crucifixion which Christ would suffer.
And Mary, endured that pain even more as she followed her Son on the way to Calvary.
Yet … despite all that. Despite knowing well ahead what was to happen, despite witnessing the Crucifixion for herself, one thing must have sustained Mary and encouraged her throughout her ordeal: the sure knowledge that Jesus was/is the Son of God and that He will rise again from the dead.
That thought alone should help us when we too go through difficult times. No matter how difficult our situation we should hold on to the fact that our Lord, the one we profess to love and follow, is the Son of God. By His death and Resurrection He has conquered evil once and for all.
And no matter what our situation may be, we can assuredly turn to Mary, and seek her help in bearing the difficulties we go through.
Victor, this is so uplifting and encouraging! Thank you for your continued dedication to writing this blog!
ReplyDeleteIt's so nice to see you visiting here again Anne. Thank you. I hope and pray that you and your family are keeping well. I look forward to your return visits.
DeleteGod bless you and yours.
Victor, this is excellent. We know the "answer" in the back of the book, just as Mary did. And she kept that front and center in her mind despite going through unimaginable suffering.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I often wonder about Jesus' childhood. I wish the Evangelists wrote more about it. Hopefully someday, with God's blessings, we can ask Him!
Thank you Michael for your kind words. Glad to see you visiting once more. Thanx.
DeleteGod bless.
Dear #1 Victor,
ReplyDeleteI really don't know where to start but i will try to stay on topic although, like many other kind bloggers, you are very lenient with me and GOD only knows why?
As you probably know by now and rightly or wrongly, i don't care to do much reading and that's probably because ???... anyway as far as knowing how much Mary and Joseph must have loved Jesus, i can only guess cause i don't read The Bible but in all fairness i must say that through my visits at church during the years, I've indirectly heard a LOT of what took place... i recall in the late seventies/ early eighties having lost one of our five daughters and the few minutes that it took to find her again, let's just say that i would gladly have committed suicide to take the pain away... evil is always around... GOD reminded me that the day before she had been playing with a new friend down the block... Long story short i later found her in less than five minutes... i know that i did not tell of the pain and the full story cause it still hurts a little thinking about it.
I've asked GOD why so little information about Jesus and He seem to have said this to me... Victor, it is not easy having sent my Son to a place that I use to have full control of in the past and future... My Son knew how I felt and when He turned about 12/13, well you know from experience how teens can be when they want their own way... what pain society also place on you when they think you're too strict with them and reduce parental control... anyway long story short... Mary and Joseph lost their son, "I" mean My Son for about three reality days and after "Joseph" and "Mary" found Jesus... let's just say that after Joseph told Me how he felt, I had tears in My Eyes and it took ME about forty days somewhere in Time to get over "IT" if YA get my drift?... Longer story shorter... After Joseph finished his early mission and died, Mary asked ME if Jesus MY SON could now also complete His Mission... All Good Christian who seek MY SON with a sincere heart eventually earn, "I" mean learn the rest... Lighten "IT" UP a bit there Victors...lol
God Bless
God bless you and your family always. I really recommend you read at least St Matthew's Gospel.
DeleteHi Victor! All I can say is "amen". Mary is such a favorite of mine, and I hope I am one of hers. How she could see her son abused so much...I can't imagine that kind of hurt.
ReplyDeleteThis is a beautiful painting my friend.
Sunday blessings,
Ceil
God bless you too Ceil, and may Mary always consider you one of her favourites. Yes, she must have suffered a lot seeing Jesus grow up.
DeleteBless you.
Beautiful, Victor & I recommend Victor 2 read the Gospel of John & the Book of Romans.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the Sabbath Offering, Friend!
It's great to see you visiting again, Lulu. Your suggestion to critique Van Gogh is next,
DeleteGod bless.
I know that you guys and gals all honestly believe that reading The Bible will help and you are all probably right but long story short, I'm scared that I might start preaching even more... longer story shorter... I'm sure GOD will help me whether i read at this time or not... so many other things for this sinner to do like praying and help others when I can... honestly the way some treat The Good Book these days... what good would it do for me to try and defend His Book... I'm sure He knows what He's doing... Don't you all think that I am eccentric enough these days without me reading The Good Book and then maybe start believing that I'm some kind of prophet or whatever... don't we have enough trouble these days without little old me adding to them...lol
ReplyDeleteThank you all for the advice, I'll be sure to discuss this with Good Old Dad (GOD) in prayer.
God Bless
God bless you always, and your family too.
DeleteActually Victor, I don't know if you've heard of the Infancy Gospels. They are obviously non-canonical but the Church views them with some legitimacy. My perception is that parts might be accurate and parts might not be. Here are a couple of links to the wikipedia entries:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infancy_Gospel_of_James
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infancy_Gospel_of_Thomas
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Pseudo-Matthew
Thanx Manny. For a variety of reasons, many texts were excluded from the Bible in the past.
DeleteI'll check out the links. Thanx.
God bless.
Beautiful post, Victor! I loved reading this!
ReplyDeleteThank you Mary. It is a wonderful painting.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.