Charleston: Magdalen, The World Within
“How hard it is sometimes to live in two worlds, the one we inhabit with the people around us, and the one that we live in alone. None may know the pain we hide, the deep wells of worry into which look the memories that enfold our lives like a forest. But the Spirit knows and cares and understands, ever beside us to offer comfort and counsel.”—Bishop Steven Charleston Daily Facebook Page.
The Repentant Magdalen
A few years ago, I spent time with a 391-year-old friend I have known for her last twenty-seven years. We first met when she was one of three Georges de La Tour’s Magdalen paintings at a special exhibition at the National Gallery of Art. She was the only one in their permanent collection. Before an important meeting in Washington, I visited her that morning, and she quieted my soul.
I instantly fell in love with her. She spoke to me as no other painting has before or since. This Magdalen sits with her left hand on a skull. She does not look at the skull directly, but sees the skull’s image in a mirror in front of her. The chiaroscuro scene is dark and only illuminated by a partially hidden candle beside the skull. I talk to Magdalen and thank her for her insights.
For me, the skull represents our insides, what our skin covers up, the Christ within, and the negative parts of our unconscious. Over the years, this Magdalen has taught me that we most often see inside ourselves by looking into a reflection, a mirror. It is too painful and too overwhelming to see what we are beneath our surface. We cannot look there directly. It is like looking at the sun. The mirror represents the reflection we see of ourselves in others. We learn and understand the authentic parts of ourselves by seeing ourselves in our neighbors.
God calls us to community to learn from others who we really are. I best see my own soul, the Christ within me, and my many unconscious character defects by first seeing them in others. Caring for our life means learning about our unconscious character defects by first becoming aware, and then seeing them for who they are in others.
Caring for our soul is finding the Christ within ourselves, by first seeing that holy in another. The Christ in our neighbor soon helps us realize the miracle of Christ’s presence also within ourselves.
Next, we are called to share it with others.
If we do not pass it on, our image of God becomes too small.
Joanna joannaseibert.com