Friday, June 20, 2014

Darkness

The lamp of the body is the eye.
If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light;
but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be in darkness.

And if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be.

In this fresco of The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, the sin of our first parents is depicted by Masaccio as loss of vision. Naked and grief-stricken they depart from Paradise with their eyes blinded by their sin of disobedience. Jesus' words in today's Gospel remind us that faith and faithfulness open our eyes and hearts to Him who is the Light.

The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, Masaccio, c. 1425, fresco, The Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence.