Beautiful Things

Another highlight from Jerusalem last week was this statue on the Via Dolorosa (hopefully I'll make it to walk the whole thing sometime soon). 

I usually have kind of a hard time with religious statues; I'll always find some detail I don't like and it will distract me from connecting with the subject of the art. This statue I just think is the most beautiful thing. It's not very well-restored or maintained, but I just really love it.

"...Now it all takes place. In her heart she had kept the words of the angel, spoken to her in the beginning: 'Do not be afraid, Mary' (Lk 1:30). The disciples fled, yet she did not flee. She stayed there, with a Mother’s courage, a Mother’s fidelity, a Mother’s goodness, and a faith which did not waver in the hour of darkness: 'Blessed is she who believed' (Lk 1:45). 'Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?' (Lk 18:8). Yes, in this moment Jesus knows: he will find faith. In this hour, this is his great consolation."

--From then-Cardinal Ratzinger's Via Crucis Meditation, 2005. 

Photo Credit, because mine didn't turn out.