The Sacred Made Real

Today, this being the last day of my post Christmas break, I made the short trip to London to view the ‘Sacred Made Real’ exhibition at the National Gallery. Hayley and Benedict escorting me whilst Jemima spent the day at nursery which she attends each Tuesday and Friday. Taking Hayley with you to the National Gallery is recommended, not because she is good company (though she is) nor due to her knowledge of art (which is impressive) but because, being an employee, she gains you free entry, a sneek past the queues and healthy discount on all purchases!

The exhibition itself was nothing short of wonderful. It is not often that devotional sculpture is placed alongside famous canvas and merited for its own artistic value, but that is precisely what happens here. The very best examples of devotional art, created during the counter reformation in Spain, is pulled together to produce a very moving display. Here we find realistic portrayals of the suffering Christ and harrowing images of the saints in glory.

And there is something profoundly touching in the knowledge that these are not mere aesthetic creations but products of deeply Christian hearts and minds. These wonderful sculptures and paintings were designed for a purpose- to make the sacred tangible. And that is why these items were not gleaned from sterile galleries but borrowed from churches where the faithful continue to love them, care for them and use them in their worship. How wonderful that is!

The thing that really struck me today was the huge difference that faith makes to our perceptions. I overheard one lady quip that the items were ‘technically interesting but rather dreary’ – what a contrast to my own impression! My heart was ablaze with love for Jesus as I walked around! I was moved, not by the artistic merits per se, but by the very themes they convey, themes which tell of my saviour’s love. As I gazed on the image of the Immaculate Virgin I paused to recite the ‘Hail, Holy Queen’. In the silence of my heart the Angelus was recited as I gazed on ‘Our Lady of Sorrows’. And as I scrutinised depictions of the passion ‘When I survey’ was playing in my mind. For me the sacred WAS made real today and I do not mind admitting that, as the Holy Spirit stirred within me, I shed a tear or two. How I wish that cynical lady could have seen these things through my eyes- if only for one moment!

I finish with the Diego Velazquez masterpiece ‘Christ after the flaggelation contemplated by the Christian Soul’. It is unusual and rewards time spent in contemplation. In it we see Jesus visited by a Christian soul (in the form of a child) who is accompanied by a guardian angel. The child represents all those who have ever walked the stations of the cross or paused for devotion before the cross.

Here then is the human soul meditating on Christ’s sacrifice for the sins of this world. It is in emphasis of this that the angel points to Christ’s back, invisible to the viewer, which shows the full impact of his scourging at the hands of his tormentors. We cannot see what the child’s craning eyes observe but the spatters of blood on Christ’s broken body tell us all we need to know. At once we stand with those who inflicted these wounds and with the soul who contemplates their significance. A significance shown in a painting which faces this one which shows Jesus reaching down from his cross to embrace a loving saint.

Yes this exhibition is gory, yes it is full blooded, but it is underscored with a story of love- God’s love for his people. And it was a strengthening of this divine love which I took with me when I left. If you have the chance to visit then do- it is highly recommended to anyone but essential for the Catholic Christian. Why? Because every fibre of our being is tuned to respond to these images as to the living God. These are not simple works of art to us but vibrant icons that really do ‘make the sacred real’!