Acrylic mixed media
A description of the painting, by Bridget Macaulay
This painting explores movement, growth and change. The image draws on the Gospel account in Luke of the infant Jesus being taken to the Temple by Mary and Joseph, and the encounter with Simeon and Anna.
Mary and Joseph offer two doves as they present the Christ child at the Temple, a sign of their poverty and devotion. It also refers to the twelve year old Jesus found at the Temple, when his parents feared he was lost, after the Feast of the Passover.
Both accounts describe a journey of change, a rite of passage even. Simeon has waited for years in the Temple. When he sees the Christ child he is released into another stage of his journey: “Now let your servant depart in peace; my eyes have seen the salvation of the Lord”. One chapter of his life is closed; another opens up.
Likewise, the twelve year old Jesus declares his purpose to “be in my Father’s house”. He has begun the journey of leaving home. This involves a letting go, especially for Mary. The shadow thrown from the child is both a cross and a sword… there can be pain in letting others make their own journey.
The child in the picture stands poised between two figures in the shadows; perhaps leaving one (the past?) to move towards the other (the future?). The past and the future could appear as threatening figures that encroach on the present or they can be transformed into benevolent figures, standing in silent support and encouragement of the present circumstances.
The child stands on the threshold of a new room, the light so bright that it is not yet possible to see what lies ahead. On the left, one dove flies in though an open window, the other prepares to fly out. On the right of the picture the three candles suggest the past, present and future. The extinguished candle of the past leaves its effect in the air. The candle of the future remains unlit, full of potential.
The central candle is alight, glowing gold. Here the Presence of God resides. Not simply encased in the past and in historical tradition nor merely hoped for in the prophetic future but here… and now… in this given, present moment… the only moment we can truly live. The same gold Presence marks the edge of the doorway; the point of transition. It also shines on the step below; the symbol of the climb of the journey.
The Celtic Christians spoke of ‘Caim Cryst’… ‘The encircling Christ’. It was a prayer of protection but also of proclamatio, declaring the ground on which they stood as belonging to Christ. Wherever we are on our journey our feet can only stand on the ground of the present… God alone is truly present in past, present and future. Our present is God’s present to us, because it is God’s Presence. It is holy ground… God is here.