How does this image portray the Gospel?

            “Um...that’s not what I see...”

            That was the response of my parents when they saw how struck I was by the artwork of this glorious sculpture fountain.  Take a look at it yourself now and see if it stirs anything in your heart.  Perhaps a couple things popped into your mind but you immediately labeled them as “dirty” or “inappropriate” thoughts.  If so, I’d like to take this opportunity to affirm that it is okay for us to be completely honest with God.  See, the devil takes the things of God that are most beautiful, then he twists them and claims that they are his own.  We must train our eyes to “untwist” everything Satan has twisted to see the real beauty of the Creator in this world.  Yes, there is sexual imagery that I saw in this sculpture.  But it’s not bad.  It communicates to us a profound truth of the Gospel - if we have eyes to see it.

            The upper half of the sculpture portrays a union of two persons.  The different coloring helps denote that they are two distinct persons but still come together as one.  It looks to me like they are dancing.  There seems to be a “leader” and a “follower.”  Neither is superior to the other but there is a leader and a follower so the dance may function most beautifully.  I remember my experience dancing with this girl once a couple years back.  Both of us assumed we were leading the dance.  It was a mess – I bumped into her, she stepped on my feet, and to be honest it just wasn’t all that fun for either of us. 

            It is in this dance, this free exchange of persons that we can see signs of a great mystery “hidden from eternity in God” (TOB 19:4).   The Catechism of the Catholic Church boldly states that – in Jesus – God has revealed his innermost secret.  “God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and he has destined man to share in that exchange” (CCC, 221).  The Father is the “leader” of the dance to continue the analogy.  He is the Giver of the gift, the Source.  The Son is the “follower.”  He is the Receiver of the gift, namely the one who is Loved.  That is why we hear Jesus say things like “the Son can do nothing of himself, unless it is something he sees the Father doing” (John 5:19).  This love between Father and Son is so powerful that it actually is another person – we call this the Holy Spirit.  He is the uncreated fruit that springs forth from their communion.  In Genesis, we read about how from the beginning the Spirit of God “hovered over the waters” (Gen 1:2).  How fitting is it then that at the point of union where the torsos meet in the sculpture begins the fountain of water that flows out of their union.  Amazing!

            This way of understanding God as a communion of persons is not just pie in the sky theological talk.  We see evidence of our call to share in their love through our very bodies.  Did you ever sit back and wonder why God made us male and female?  Wouldn’t it have been easier to make a mankind simply single gendered?  But God is not an idiot.  He is doing something very intentional by creating us male and female.  He’s giving us a sign that reveals a great mystery.  What mystery you ask?  “For this reason, the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the Church” (Eph 5:31-32).   Did you catch that?  St. Paul is basically saying that Jesus wants to dance with us.  He is the “leader” and we are the “follower”.  Not because he desires to dominate us and take away our freedom, but rather he desires that we be filled full with the love we were created for and become fully alive (John 10:10). 

In Catholic tradition, Mary is looked upon as a symbol of the Church or in other words a model of what we are meant to become.  Misunderstandings of her have caused many inside and outside the Church to miss out on her profound example of what it means to be a disciple.  Notice the lower portion of the sculpture.  Don’t be afraid to acknowledge what you see – to me it looks like a womb.  The fountain of water is pouring into this exposed womb which is open to receive the gift.  “The Holy Spirit will come upon you Mary, the power of the Most High will overshadow you and you will conceive the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).  Mary so opened herself up to the love of God that Jesus came to physically live inside of her.  When we open the “womb” of our hearts to Jesus the Bridegroom, he literally impregnates us with eternal life.  Do you know this is what happens every time you walk down the aisle to receive communion?  Here comes the Bride...

Hopefully the sculpture looks a little different to you now.  There is more we can pull from it but there is not enough time today.  For further reading on some of the concepts discussed here, I recommend Christopher West book “Fill These Hearts.”  When I began to experience the love of Jesus in my life, my understanding of holiness changed from doing a bunch of pious things to allowing myself to be loved (Luke 1:38).  Jesus is knocking on the door of our hearts ready to love us exactly as we are.  Will we have the courage to open to him?