The second reflection about the titular painting at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Church, Paola

The fulcrum of the titular painting of Our Lady of Lourdes in Paola—which was restored two years ago—is undoubtedly the figure of Mary in the central canvas.  This middle section of the installation is in the shape of a narrow oblong, incorporating both the ‘niche’ where the Blessed Virgin appeared to Saint Bernadette above the Massabielle grotto, as well as a secondary, circular crevice and the rocks above it that are the foundation of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception—known as the Upper Basilica—whose neo-gothic style creates the impression of the building emerging from the rock face, as though carved out of it.

Using the palette of subtle and delicate shades of colour that he is renowned for, Cremona faithfully sticks to Saint Bernadette’s description of the ‘Lady’, who appeared to her eighteen times: a not-so-tall, young woman—even if the narrowness of the canvas is a little deceptive and gives the sense of a larger figure—wearing a pure white robe with a blue sash tied around her waist, yellow roses at her feet, and clasping a rosary of white beads on a gold chain.  Cremona places a pointed gold crown on top of Mary’s head, like the one placed on top of the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes in the main square of the sanctuary.

When the statue to be placed in the grotto, in the spot where the Blessed Virgin had appeared, was made, Bernadette found it disappointing because the figure did not match her description of the Lady, especially in terms of her physique and age.  And, quite frankly, in the aftermath of the beauty of the apparition, hardly could a mere sculpture ever satisfy Bernadette.  In the serene gaze of Mary towards Bernadette and that of the teenager towards Mary, one may deduce the human mind’s limited capacity to comprehend.

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Saint Paul concludes his ode to love thus:

For now we see in a mirror, dimly,

but then we will see face to face.

Now I know only in part;

then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.

1 Corinthians 13, 12

Reflect a little on these words and let their sweetness percolate down to your heart so that enough of the vitamin of life-giving hope might find its way to your stomach to keep you focused on the journey towards the vision of immeasurable and everlasting beauty.