September 18- 30, 2011

PRO BONO
By Atty. Jo Imbong

Why I love La Pieta

Funny, September 8 brings to mind St. Peters Basilica in Rome that houses the Chapel of the Pieta. That side chapel, in turn, houses Michelangelos famous depiction of Christ and his Mother Mary looking upon Him who is lifeless. That is what you see if you approach the statue frontally. It is from another angle of it that you could be overwhelmed by what you might see. If you stood by the left of the statuary with your eyes at the level of Marys downcast face, imagine what you see. From that angle, Marys head would be slightly bowed, her eyes in a half-open gaze at her Son, seemingly soaking herself in the moment and treasuring it all in her heart. The wonder of photography gave me this startling discovery because one day, an unexpected friend gifted me with a 12-page calendar with 12 different depictions of the Virgin Mary. This was one of them, and it is my favorite to this day. Why is that? From that rare angle, what you see is a face unlike any other of Our Lady in grief. It has nothing of the lachrymal drops on the cheek or the obligatory sadness. There is not a suggestion of bitterness at such a violent death, no hint of desperate resignation at such a dishonorable fate in mens eyes. Rather, her face is suffused, as it were, with transcendent meaning. It is as though for her, the moment is the beginning of a triumphant countdown to new Life, rather than a shaming moment of defeat. Her loving gaze at the limp body on her lap freezes in a moment where Mother and Son are locked in an eternal oneness of obedience to the will of the Divine Father. The eyes say it all: in their half-closed contemplation, there is a tinge of a promised victory. How can she not exude it when her Son just purchased Heaven? And being a Mother that she is, her heart must have lifted as at the Magnificat with the thought of the vastness of her impending spiritual motherhood. My spirit rejoices in God my Savior. In her eyes are echoed a Mothers own Consumatum Est, a moment presaged by her Fiat Mihi once in time when the Holy Spirit came with the fruit of her womb at the Annunciation. If we must attribute a stronger emotion in her gaze, it is that her eyes mock death. For she, like her Son, knows the squalor and miseries of a humankind that makes its own crosses. But like her Son, she ascends to the heights of His triumph over all the black Fridays of humankind. That is why her delicate mouth, from such angle still, subtly suggests an oncoming smilelike a rosebud not yet there, but set to blind all her children with a radiance unequalled of a sun that blooms at Easter dawn. La Pieta captures the pathos of Lent. But no, it is already Easter in Marys heart. She, after all, is Mother of Life. Only Mary can gaze at a fallen Jesus that way. That is why I love La Pieta. attyjoimbong@gmailcom Twitter @attyimbong

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