Learning through Art: Mosaic on the Incarnation of the Word

Mosaic by artist Fr. Marko Ivan Rupnik S.J. To view this picture with the mind of the artist one must start at the very top centre of the mosaic at the scene of the nativity. From here, as your eye descends in a straight line through the different scenes to the very base of the wall, follow the artist’s own explanatory words which he provides for us in his book, The Colour of Light: ‘From the Father’s “womb” to the Virgin’s womb, from the grotto in Bethlehem to the grotto-tomb that is the Jordan, to the womb of death, Sheol. Kenosis is God’s abasement in Jesus Christ, true God and true human, descending to the ultimate abysses of evil and death’. The artist is presenting for us the marvellous condescension of God who, in Christ, comes among us in littleness and mercy, descending to the very depths in order to raise us up.