Circles within circles is a key idea in Dante, as in Teilhard - and it seems also to hold good on this journey to the Sacred Heart. As I mused over the friendship with my old school mate Gabriele I remembered that we walked around the galleries at the National Museum in Cardiff as kids - and he knew about all the Italian artists in the galleries. He most probably told me how to say Batoni in an Italian way ! As I thought about that something clicked: in the picture painted by Batoni one of the figures is actually pointing to a copy of , yes you got it, The Divine Comedy. Possibly Gabriele may have drawn my attention to that - who knows! And then it occurred to me that the Batoni image which shows Jesus holding his flaming heart is, to say the least, Dantesque! It cannot be doubted that Batoni would have known the New Life. So, was the most famous image of the Sacred Heart actually inspired in some way by what we read in Dante? It is not so improbable, indeed it is very likely that this famous piece of Italian poetry would have shaped his ideas?
Jesus is saying in the Batoni painting : 'Vide Cor Meum'. Our response has to be - as in The New life- 'Vide Cor Tuuam!' As in Dante, we are being asked to consume a heart on fire for love of us - in the Eucharist. Only then,when we have eaten his body and drunk his blood can we - like Beatrice - rise up to a new life, in Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment