And the Holy Spirit

Wednesday, March 6, 2024 12:00 pm EST

Emily Normand ’20, the Lilly Endowment Museum Fellow for Religion and Spirituality in the Visual Arts at the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art introduces our incredibly beautiful piece on loan from the Thoma Foundation—The Annunciation, attributed to Peruvian Artists and dated to the first half of the 17th century. 

Catholic missionaries frequently brought prints from Europe to use as teaching aids and as models for local artists to copy as they decorated the new churches and public buildings built in the colonies. This painting is modeled after a print by Agostino Carracci reproducing a painting by Orazio Samacchini for the Church of San Giacomo Apostolo in Forli, Italy. We can see how ideas and styles generated in Europe were disseminated over time to distant lands.

Here, we see the Archangel Gabriel interrupt Mary as she reads in her bedroom, which is furnished with parquet marble floors and a canopy bed––rich décor common in Europe in the 1500s. Gabriel calls out, “Hail Mary, full of grace” and offers her a lily, a symbol of purity. God the Father appears in the upper left as the dove of the Holy Spirit descends on the scene. This is the moment when the divine becomes human.

Despite the two large figures in the foreground, our eyes are directed to the central symbol of the Holy Spirit above them—the dove. Observe how the artist’s skillful use of light emanating from the dove prompts contemplation on the pervasive influence of the Holy Spirit in Christ’s mission. From the very moment Mary embraced God’s summons, the Holy Spirit meticulously orchestrated each facet of God’s plan. Christ actively collaborated with the Holy Spirit, surrendering to the Father’s will to fulfill the divine law.

In our daily lives, the Holy Spirit’s influence doesn’t manifest as beautiful doves descending upon us. Rather, it resembles the subtle rays extending from the dove—imperceptible to the eye, yet undeniably potent and all-encompassing. As we journey through Lent in prayer, may we adopt Mary’s courageous stance. Only by embracing this radical posture of surrender to the divine will of the Father can we lead a life infused with radical grace and love.

This Lent, ThinkND invites you to join FaithND and the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art for a journey of Lenten discovery through some of the most significant liturgical paintings in the Raclin Murphy collection, challenging you to contemplate prayer, fasting, sinfulness, mercy, grace, and God’s infinite love from the perspectives of the artist’s gaze. To subscribe to the FaithND Daily Gospel Reflection visit faith.nd.edu/signup.

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