Virgin with the Grail (San Clemente de Tahuil, Spain, 1123)
The Gospels recount many stories about the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is presented as a meek virgin who acquiesces to the call of being the God Bearer. She is shown as an inquisitive, adventurous young girl who sets of across the country to confirm the veracity of this call with her cousin Elizabeth. Mary is shown as a strong young woman who gives birth to her son in a manger. She is shown as a devout Jewish mother who presents her son in the Temple for circumcision and makes the appointed sacrifice. She is shown as a deeply spiritual woman who holds memories as treasures in her heart. She is shown as a protectoress setting off as a refugee to protect her son from the soldiers. She is a concerned mother who seeks out and finds her lost child. She is shown as a commanding woman, who insists that her son perform a miracle at a wedding feast. She is shown as one of her son's most devoted followers. She is described as following Jesus through out his ministry. She meets Jesus on his way to Calvary. She weeps at the foot of the cross. She helps bury his dead body. She accompanies Mary Magdalene to the when they find the tomb empty. There are other miraculous apocryphal stories about Mary. But this icon doesn't present the Mary of any of those stories, and, yet it presents her part in all of those stories.
This icon presents an image of the Virgin Mary at a time after Jesus' death. This is not meek or mild timid virgin. This is a strong, mature woman, acquainted with the sorrows and burden of grief. Mary wears a blue dress and her hair is veiled in white cloth. She stands beneath an archway. The lower part of the space is the same blue as Mary's dress. The upper part of the space is white like Mary's headdress and halo. Thus, Mary blends or fades into the ecclesiastical architecture of the background. Mary raises her right hand, palm facing forward in a gesture beckoning the viewer to pause and wait. Mary's left hand is veiled in cloth, a sign that she is holding a sacred object. The sacred object she is holding is the Holy Grail, the chalice in which Jesus' blood was collected as it poured from his side after the spear was thrust into his side to assure the authorities of his death. And, yet, she smiles, consoled in the presence of the Holy Grail.
The simplicity and boldness of the iconographers technique might lull one into quietude. But to look into Mary's eyes one almost drowns in the depth of the wells of her tears. And in silently contemplating her tightly drawn lips one can hear the voice of her grief silently echoing through the centuries. Ones own tears replenish her tears and voicing ones own grief restores her own voice. I can see this Mary participating in a Baltimore Cease Fire Sacred Space cleansing ritual.
The story of Mary is the story of love and joy and sorrow and pain and grief and loss; it is the story of love which heals the brokenness of the soul. The icon reminds us of the need to wait for the consoling love experienced in the presence of that which is holy to become manifest. The Blessed Virgin Mary, the Theotokos, the God Bearer, the Queen of Heaven, and Mother of the Church says, “Wait. I'll weep with you and together we will find peace through mystical Holy Communion.”