Michelangelo\'s Pieta Obviously the Catholic

Michelangelo's Pieta

Obviously the Catholic religion has as its main focus the divine life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Also prominent in the Catholic faith has been His mother, Mary. Mary, mother of Jesus, has probably had more influence than any other single woman in history (Appleby, 1999).

Traditionally, Mary acts as an intercessor to her son Jesus, and has had particular appeal to those who are suffering. Mary herself suffered greatly (Batz.1997): can there any greater parental tragedy than seeing your child die before you do? This makes our image of Mary powerful. Her love has been immense, her suffering great, and now she acts as intercessor to our Savior. However, as Batz (1997) notes, Mary never sought power or recognition. Mary plays an important role in the Catholic faith. Without Mary's suffering, might we pray to her for trivial things? "Please Mary, bring me a dog a man I can love. Please, Mary, free me from this financial burden. Please Mary, bring me a doggy for Christmas." Well, young children might have made the last prayer, but as we mature, we realize that seeking the intercession of Mary is not a trivial thing, and that we should not trivialize our faith with inconsequential, selfish prayers.

Michelangelo had a remarkable understanding of Mary. In his sculpture "The Pieta," he shows Mary, eternally young, cradling the body of her dead son Jesus. If we go to the funeral of any average person, we would see grief on every face, but Michelangelo chose to show Mary in her greatness. She holds the lifeless body of her son, but her face is serene. She knows that it was her role, assigned to her by God the Father, to bring God the Son to his people. She knew that he would be sacrificed. She understood: it was her role to give birth to Him, and then to give Him up.

Perhaps Michelangelo's sculpture is unrealistic. Mary was only human. She must have felt a mother's grief as well as a mother's love. Even the greatest saints have had moments when they doubted God's will or what God was asking of them. Could Mary alone be immune to this all-too-human trait? It seems unlikely.

However, Michelangelo never intended to create a literal interpretation of Mary holding Jesus' body. He intends to show Mary's transcendence, her ultimate understanding that without her joy and her loss, the birth and death of her son, we would never know salvation. Could Mary have final understanding of this as his body lay in her arms, before the joy of Easter morning? She is only human; it doesn't seem likely.

So when we look at The Pieta' we, like Mary, have to transcend the immediate. The sculpture demonstrates Mary's ultimate faith. Her son has died a terrible death. He has not yet arisen from the dead. We do not yet have the promise of salvation. And yet, Mary believes. She knows it will be so, because God has promised it. This is why we pray to Mary. She is the ultimate evidence of what faith really is -- believing when we do not have the answers, and nothing but belief to sustain us while we wait.

Because of this, Batz writes that she cannot bear to ask Mary to intercede for her regarding the normal ups and downs of life, the difficulties that any person will face in a normal life -- in her case, frustration in finding a man to share her life with (Batz.1997). Good Catholics would argue that finding a devout life mate with whom can live a good and Catholic life is crucially important, and it is, but it's also just a normal part of life. We won't find that person until we find him or her, and it's up to us to deal with it and to live a life that can reasonably lead to that outcome. Mary can help us by helping us abide in our faith, not by sending us a mate on a velvet cushion.

As Appleby (1999) says, Michelangelo's Pieta "embodies the astonishing resilience, beyond death, of the relationship between a parent and a beloved child... love and trust do not wither, but deepen. In Mary's passion the common human experience of parenthood is forever associated with the experience of divinity -- of the heavenly father who sacrificed his only son" (Appleby, 1999).