Beauty and Power in Christ

Beauty and Power in Christ April 1, 2013

 

 

I stood silently at the edge of the square of San Lorenzo waiting, occasionally sitting on the concrete curb to give my aching legs a deserved rest.  The night was warm but not enough to make me sweat.  I was restless, yet I anticipated the wait was certainly worth enduring.  With my legs stretched out into the street, I fixed my tired and hazy eyes on the closed wooden doors of the small church on the opposite side of the square.  I did not wait alone.  Thousands had gathered to catch a glimpse of El Señor del Gran Poder, the patron of Seville, Spain.

After a magnificent Holy Thursday liturgy at the cathedral, I had journeyed through Seville’s winding streets to patiently wait for the madrugada procession to begin.  I had never seen a rendition of Seville’s beloved patron saint and his name intrigued me.  I used my creative powers to imagine this artistic rendition of Jesus Christ.  He either sat triumphantly on a throne with rays of sunlight gloriously emerging from behind an imposing throne or he sat with one right hand elevated in blessing and the other holding Scripture reminiscent of the traditional Greek pantocrator.  What an appropriate name for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the creator and sustainer of all that exists, the Lord of Great Power.

Suddenly the wait came to an end.  A few minutes past midnight, in the first minutes of Good Friday, a loud clash signaled the doors of the church were being unlocked and they were soon opened.  The assembled crowd fell silent immediately, every eye fixed on the dark doorway.  Penitents began emerging from inside, walking solemnly in silence.  Dark hoods concealed their identity, with only two small holes revealing their eyes.  Every penitent reverently carried a tall, dark orange candle.  After what seemed hundreds of penitents exited the church, I became bored with this endless stream of penitents, when will El Señor del Gran Poder emerge?

Looking across the square I caught a glimpse of gold and silver softly glimmering, reflecting the light of the lamps on the paso and the few lights inside the church.  Christ emerged triumphantly and powerfully from the church that bears his name, Señor del Gran Poder.  I was stunned.  I had been terribly wrong.  The power of Christ does not rest on lofty thrones or on a mighty pantocrator depiction.  The power of Jesus Christ rests on the cross.  The 17th century rendition of Christ in all his power had our Lord carrying the cross, the source of his power.

The Lord of Great Power carried the cross triumphantly out of the Church into San Lorenzo Square while scores of men below the paso steadily carried him on the way to the cathedral.  As the image reached the opposite end of the square closer to where I stood, the captain of the men ordered the image to be lowered by hammering onto the wood of the paso.  A woman emerged from a balcony over me and the silence was broken by the most haunting tune, a saeta to El Señor del Gran Poder.  The richness, antiquity and otherness of the sound filled my ears.  It became almost unbearable for me to hear the saeta as tears streamed down my eyes.  My startled senses could not absorb the wholeness of such a solemn and beautiful moment.   [Click below to listen to a saeta sung to El Señor del Gran Poder]

http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/AJmZFxFypwg&source=uds

Unfortunately for me the saeta ended, the paso was raised and it continued on its way to the cathedral to venerate Jesus Christ at the altar of repose.  Seven hours later, as the sun rose over Seville, the image would return to the same square and back into the church.  The encounter at San Lorenzo left my soul wounded, yearning to hold on tightly to the moment so it would last forever.  The profound encounter with beauty wounded me, but the wound was healed by following the path beauty invited me to follow, the path to the transcendent God who fulfills every desire.

While in Seville Jesus surprised me by revealing the source of his power, the cross, and he stunned me with an experience of beauty that can only reach its completion in him.

“Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.  Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Thank you Saint Paul.

Our Lady of La Macarena, Patroness of Seville
Pictures are mine, all rights reserved

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