When my first child was a wee little thing, grasping at other people’s fingers, I took quite a few pictures of her hands.
So maybe I’ve been intrigued by hands at some level for many years. There’s no doubt that my interest in Mary combined with my interest in hands for my latest piece at Catholic Exchange…
Few things are as beautiful as two hands woven together. There’s the feel of another’s fingers warming your own, and yet the contrast between their hand’s work and your own.
Your hands tell where you’ve been, the battles you’ve fought, the work you’ve done. What kind of story do your hands tell?
I wonder what Mary’s hands looked like. In all the representations I’ve seen, her hands are just a minor part, an appendage that’s necessary to make her complete but never the focus. They are, without fail, perfect hands, but I’ve never seen an image of Mary that focuses on her hands.
These images we see, the different titles and apparitions, are supposed to inspire us, not drag us down, so sometimes I have to remind myself not to let it have the reverse effect.
How can I relate to her across the centuries, living as I do in such a different culture, with such a different understanding of the world? How do I get past the flawless portraits of her, the idealized images, the pristine hands I see?
You can read the rest, and see how it all ties in (for me) to Mary, Star of the Sea, over at Catholic Exchange.
Good Morning Snoring Scholar, I may have mentioned here before that I have a special devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. One of the things that always strikes me as I gaze upon her image is her hands. To me it appears.that with her hands the Blessed Mother is providing just the amount o’s comforting The frightened young M Jesus needed. She is not clutching him close to her.breast as she might.have wanted to do given her own motherly fears, and she was not.pushing him off to encourage his independence. To me, her hands indicate that she was doing what mothers of securely attached children do: they are sensitive and responsive to their child needs not.their.own needs. Given that one of my specialties and interest as a Catholic psychogist and family therapist is attachment, relationships and helping build stronger families.
Oh wow, Dr. Patti, that is beautiful! 🙂
Sarah, it’s interesting that you wrote a reflection on hands; our infant daughter, Sarah (good name, huh?) was born with “mitten hands” or what is known in medical terminology as syndactyly. I wrote a reflection on hands entitled “Her Hands” on our blog last year: http://www.lovealonecreates.com/her-hands/