This piece was chosen to reflect on this week with our meditations for several reasons. First, the painting demonstrates how versatile Sr. Compassion was with her subject matter. It was not just religious subjects that she painted, but also nature and natural beauty influenced her artwork; there are many non-religious paintings in Sr. Compassion’s catalogue of artworks.
Second, the lush greenery of this painting represents the Fourth Week of Lent so well, as moving from desert scenes and feelings of isolation and desolation to the beginning of Spring with its green foliage emerging and flowers coming up from the ground. Hints of rebirth and resurrection begin to be felt.
Finally, this painting portrays so well for me the themes from today’s Gospel of the Prodigal Son. A vast open territory, as depicted in this painting, reminds me of the wandering away of the Prodigal Son who took his inheritance and left his father to go out into the vast world in front of him, only to squander it all away in a short period of time, leaving himself destitute and in need of assistance. The Prodigal Son returns to his father seeking love, mercy, and an embrace so that all will be well. This is exactly what he receives.
The Lenten season reminds us that we have wandered away from God our Father through sin only to return seeking His love, mercy, and embrace. This we know we will receive for the one who has a contrite heart. Can we drink from this cup of love, mercy, and forgiveness? What do we see in this painting in relation to the story of the Prodigal Son and our own story?