How art can deepen our experience of Lent and Holy Week

AMERICA MAGAZINE
By Margot Patterson

Michelangelo Pieta Sculpture - Stock image (iStock photo)

I never think of turning to art to deepen or enhance my experience of Lent, and yet so many artists have depicted scenes from the life and Passion of Christ I wonder why I don’t. I take it for granted that art can inspire, that artists portray Jesus, Mary and the saints to make us see them as they see them, to enlarge our understanding of them, to make them real. Befriending one or more artists, studying their Christian art—whether displayed on a museum wall or reproduced in a book—strikes me as a rich, rewarding Lenten practice, a way to immerse one’s self in both art and faith. Human beings are relational; we learn from dialogue and interaction. [More]