In this month’s topic, Mary: God’s Masterpiece, even the title encourages you to use beautiful art on your prayer table!

Since your classroom time will be in December, the typical go-to idea is to set up all or part of a Nativity set for your decoration, but I’d like to suggest you possibly put that off until next month (when your January classroom time will still likely be within the 12 day celebration of Christmas), and focus instead on this season of waiting.

In my opinion, nothing exemplifies Mary’s beauty better than the Annunciation.  Waiting seems like such a passive thing, but Annunciation art almost always show her actively preparing herself (either through spiritual reading or in prayer) for God’s will to be done in her life.  She always seems to be fully expecting His plan and the fact that she had no idea of the details was a minor consideration.  When God did ask something of her, she was ready!

This work by Barocci, takes place in an everyday setting from the artist’s life.  The palace in the background is one he would have routinely seen and the room is like one he would possibly have worked in.  The details of this work teach us about the realities of the event.

It looks to me like this is just the moment after Mary has said, “Be it done unto me according to your will.”  God the Father and the Holy Spirit are watching over everything and God the Son is safely in place inside her womb.  The cherubs are looking on in joyful wonder at the unfolding of God’s amazing plan!  Look too at the peacefulness of the scene.  The angel Gabriel is gazing God’s masterpiece with tender love and Mary’s sweet expression shows her complete trust in God.  Even the cat in the foreground is peacefully sleeping through it all!

Here is another a scene from “everyday life”, but since it happens to be painted in a monastic cell in an Italian convent, the “everyday” takes on another look.  This one by Fra Angelico is from the convent at San Marco in Florence, Italy, where he painted each cell with a different scene from the life of Christ.  The austere scene is a reflection of life in their convent where all distractions were stripped away so they could better contemplate the beauty of Christ.  It’s now a museum, but if ever I were in Florence, I’d gladly spend time on retreat in one of the cells!