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Ave Maria, Florida – the town with a Catholic heart.©™ Stories & information for residents & visitors.Archive for Art
On 9/11 anniversary, sculptor Schmalz seeks to depict the love that can save even a terrorist
The sculptor whose work is seen throughout Ave Maria in the Oratory and on the Ave Maria University campus, Timothy Schmalz, noted on social media that on the anniversary of 9/11 he will be working on a sculpture that tries to express the mysterious and merciful love Christ has even for a terrorist.
Facebook message posted by Timothy Schmalz
Schmalz’s “Homless Jesus”, which depicts Christ as a hooded homeless man bearing the stigmata, has garnered media attention in recent years as copies have been installed in cities throughout the world. A majority of Schmalz’s work is religious.
Pope Francis blesses and admires Schmalz’s “Homeless Jesus”
Schmalz sculpted the large bronze Crucifix in the Oratory and a series of about ten bronze religious sculptures that are dispersed throughout the AMU campus.
This hooded beggar by Schmalz bears the stigmata and greets visitors to the Adoration chapel at Ave Maria University
Schmalz’s larger than life-size crucifix hangs above the Oratory altar
McTeigue: Jesus tells us, “Do not make an idol or an instrument of people made beautiful by God.”
Ave Maria’s Father Robert McTeigue, S.J., preached this homily today for the Feast of St. Anthony of Padua. The scripture readings are here. Please pray for Father as he works towards completing a collection of homilies and essays on preaching entitled, I Have Someone to Tell You: A Jesuit Heralds the Gospel.
Michelangelo’s naked Adam and Eve just before the Fall, on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. According to Ave Maria University’s Dr. Michael Waldstein, a renowned scholar on Pope St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body: “Some [naked] images push us to concupiscence, others do not. . . . Going to the Sistine Chapel and looking at the naked women on the ceiling is for this reason a very different experience than watching a pornographic movie. It is not presumption, but the experience of many men, that one can look with purity at Michelangelo’s nudes and take delight in their beauty. Michelangelo himself must have looked at his naked models in a pure way in order to be able to paint nudes in that pure way. . . . Of course, if one does feel a slide into concupiscence when looking at Michelangelo’s nudes, it is a good idea to look away. That need to look away should also be a trumpet blast for recognizing . . . that one is in need of a serious transformation.”
May I ask you a question? What if someone came to you and said this: “Oh! I just did a terrible thing! I was in an art museum, and I noticed that the paintings were beautiful!” You would think that a rather strange statement, would you not? Suppose your troubled friend went on to say: “And after I noticed that the paintings were beautiful, I praised the artists who painted them!” You would know right away that your friend is obviously quite confused. Going to an art museum, enjoying the beauty of the paintings, and then praising the painters—well, in terms of a purpose of a museum—it just doesn’t get any better than that.
But what if your friend says this: “Oh! I went to the art museum, and I saw the beautiful paintings, and I stole them!” Then you would know that your poor friend is more than just confused. And what if your friend said: “I went to the art museum, slashed the beautiful paintings, and used the shredded paintings to shine my shoes.” Then you would know for sure that your confused friend is very sick.
Now, let me ask you another question. What does this little parable of mine have to do with today’s gospel reading?
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