The Visitation.

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I chose the Maurice Denis Visitation mainly for its color and immediacy. I remember in 12th grade I was reading a cheap Bible and illustrating the margins as I went. Before Joseph was abducted and taken to Egypt, I drew a discarded pizza box and a stack of Rocky and Bullwinkle videos. My mom thought I was scorning the story, which says a lot for her objectivity since none of us were particularly religious. However, I was using the illustrations more as a point of access: if the stories are as relevant today as when they occured and/or were written, there is no need to worry about the inclusion or exclusion of anachronism. Well... as long as the anachronism isn't counter to the story itself. But this could easily balloon into a more intense conversation than I intend.

I chose the Denis because I find the brightness of this piece and its anachronism refreshing. (Amber, can you shed any additional light?)

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The Bible can be discussed metaphorically without proving or disproving its literality; it consists almost exclusively of variations on two stories:

Story #1: God makes contact with humanity; humanity is open to the interaction and benefits as a result.
Story #2: God makes contact with humanity; humanity rejects the interaction and suffers as a result.

Quite aside from the question of what did and what did not happen, the multitudes of variations suggests that they each have something different to reveal; that a nuance or subtlety of our relationship to God is encapsulated in a specific moment. Which is why this can be read as metaphor.

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So the Visitation: it's clearly a take on Story #1. But how does God make contact with humanity? The answer is surprisingly literal; we are inclined to think of this "visitation" as what is transparently before us: Mary visits her cousin, Elizabeth.

But another visitation is happening simultaneously. Remember, the gospel starts well prior to the Nativity, and the passage leaves no doubt as to Christ as a legitimate presence even before he is born:

Luke 1: 41-45. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"

Mary is not only visiting Elizabeth; God is visiting (making contact) with all three of them, and this is recognized at once.

Herein is the sutlety of this particular story; in the Rosary we meditate upon this event as emblematic of "charity": visiting a loved one in a time of need and stress. Mary's visit parallels God's visit, and both are magnified through their partnership. This foreshadows the moment down the road when Christ collapses the ten commandments into "love God" and "love each other." And since Mary and Jesus are effectively inseparable at this point, just as John and Elizabeth are, and just as both women are through their kinship, love so pure is elastic.

The best way to love yourself is to love someone else...

END OF POST.