In an interview with Vittorio Messori, Pope Benedict XVI, then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, stated that “the only real effective apologia for Christianity comes down to two arguments, namely, the saints the Church has produced and the art which has grown in her womb.” In other words, Joseph Ratzinger is arguing that the beauty of the lives of the saints and the beauty of the art in the Church are the most impactful “explanations” for Jesus Christ and ways to draw people to Him. Real holiness and art are inherently attractive. Ratzinger emphasizes post-modern themes in his writings and this statement from him is no exception. In the Romantic movement, which is a major part of post-modernity, one of the desires is to make one’s life a work of art. Professor Tracey Rowland, in her book Benedict XVI: A Guide for the Perplexed, states that the Romantic movement “had a strong appeal for artists and intellectuals, that is, for those who wanted their lives to be something more than a contribution to the cold god of industry and capital. It emphasized such concepts as individuality or the personal uniqueness of each and every human being, the importance of memory and the motions of the human heart, the significance of cultures and traditions, and the transcendental of beauty, especially as the latter is revealed in nature.”1
Ratzinger’s two “arguments” for Christianity actually meet the post- modern desire to make one’s life a beautiful work of art. The analogy of making one’s life a work of art presumes that there is an artist at work. When an artist starts with a canvas for a painting or a piece of rock to be made into a sculpture, there is a process that the canvas or rock must undergo to arrive at the beautiful end result. In going through that process, the canvas can become quite messy, and it may take a long time and a great deal of effort for the artist to smooth out the roughness and chaotic aspects of the canvas or rock and make it into the work he intends. The imperfections of the canvas or rock are not the fault of the artist.
The Lord Jesus, the divine artist, creates and works on His creatures, to make them into saints —masterpieces that shine with His light of grace. Completely consistent with Benedict XVI and John Paul II, St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort and St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe have offered us important considerations that help us know how to make our lives a beautiful work of art:
St. Augustine calls Mary the ‘living mold of God,’ and that indeed she is; for it was in her alone that God was made a true man without losing any feature of the Godhead, and it was also in her alone that man can be truly formed into God, in so far as that is possible for human nature, by the grace of Jesus Christ. A sculptor has two ways of making a lifelike statue or figure: he may carve the figure out of some hard, shapeless material, using for this purpose his professional skill and knowledge, his strength and the necessary instruments, or he may cast it in a mold. The first manner is long and difficult and subject to many mishaps; a single blow of the hammer or chisel, awkwardly given, may spoil the whole work. The second is short, easy and smooth; it requires but little work and slight expense, provided the mold be perfect and made to reproduce the figure exactly; provided, moreover, the material used offer no resistance to the hand of the artist.
Mary is the great mold of God, made by the Holy Ghost to form a true God-Man by the Hypostatic Union and to form also man-God by grace. In that mold none of the features of the Godhead is wanting. Whoever is cast in it, and allows himself to be molded, receives all the features of Jesus Christ, true God. The work is done gently, in a manner proportioned to human weakness, without much pain or labor, in a sure manner, free from all illusion . . . it is done in a holy and spotless manner without a shadow of the least stain of sin.2
St. Maximilian Kolbe stated, “In her womb the soul must be regenerated according to the form of Jesus Christ. She must nourish the soul with the milk of her grace, caress and rear us in the manner in which she nourished and brought up Jesus. The soul must learn to know and to love Jesus at her knees. Let us draw love for Him from her heart. Yes, love Him with her heart and through love become like Him.”3
Pope St. John Paul the Great learned the importance of Marian Consecration at a young age from his spiritual mentor, Venerable Jan Tyranowski. John Paul was introduced to the writings of De Montfort and adopted his “Totus Tuus,” or “Totally Yours,” as his papal motto. John Paul stated, “my motto, Totus tuus, is inspired by the doctrine of St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Monfort. These two words express total abandonment to Jesus through Mary.”
From these previous quotations, one can, continuing the tradition of the great saints, including St. John Paul II, completely entrust and consecrate oneself to the Blessed Mother, the great mold of the divine artist, Jesus Christ, and, like her, become a beautiful work of art, attracting others to the Lord.
*The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe (depicted here) is a piece of art made completely by the power of the Holy Spirit, mirroring the journey the Father desires for each of us. The “paint”, which is not of earthly materials, actually hovers above the fabric of the tilma/cloth. There is no scientific way to explain the beautiful image and it’s current existence on a cloth that dissolves within 40 years, as we’re over 500 years now. To learn more on this divine work of art, visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe website.
If you would like to delve deeper into Marian Consecration you may enjoy the articles “Marian Consecration: It’s All About Jesus” and “Marriage as an Analogy for Marian Consecration” or the book from which they were drawn, Shane Kapler’s The Biblical Roots of Marian Consecration: Devotion to the Immaculate Heart in Light of Scripture(TAN Books, 2022).
1 Tracey Rowland, Benedict XVI: A Guide for the Perplexed (London: T&T Clark, 2010), 9.
2 Louis Marie de Montfort, The Secret of Mary,(Rockford, IL: TAN Books, 1998), 14-16.
3 Maximilian Kolbe, Aim Higher: Spiritual and Marian Reflections of St. Maximilian Kolbe, (Libertyville, IL: Marytown Press, 2007), 14.