Manresa sculptures offer beauty, encourage personal reflection
Manresa sculptures offer beauty, encourage personal reflection
There are two statues of the young Blessed Mother and her husband Joseph that you will see several times during your retreat at Manresa. Rather than going to see them “museum-style,” where they are exhibited among other works of beauty, you are somewhat surprised to find each of these two statues in an otherwise stark stairwell in St. Mary’s Hall, just steps from your bedroom.
At one end of the building, the stairs wind in circular fashion behind the nearly life-sized statue of Mary. The shellacked surface of the hard wooden sculpture yields to the delicate carving and the gentle pose of the composition. The Blessed Mother bows her head slightly. Her eyes relax, her hair drapes gently across her shoulders, and her hands - her hands say it all. Palms up, arms extended slightly at her side, her hands acceptingly, devotedly speak volumes. “May it be done to me according to your word.” [Luke 1:38] Each time you pass here you ask, “What is your will for me, Lord?” In the stairwell at the opposite end of the building is a statue of St. Joseph. His facial expression is serenely happy, very peaceful. In one hand he clutches a carpenter’s square, symbolizing the talent and toil by which he provided for the Holy Family. The other hand reaches gently across his chest and touches his heart, signifying his fatherly love and devotion to his family and others. You pause briefly to reflect on your own devotion to the Holy Family, and to your own family, and then continue on to your previous destination.