Mario Romo Gutiérrez

Why does Mary look younger than Jesus in Michelangelo's Pietà? The answer is one of the most beautiful in art history... Mary is holding the body of her 33 year old son, but she looks 20. Critics noticed it the moment the sculpture was unveiled in 1499. The mother of a man who has just been crucified would have been in her late forties or early fifties. Michelangelo had carved her as a girl. His own biographer, Ascanio Condivi, was the one who finally asked him why. The answer Michelangelo gave is preserved in Condivi's Life of Michelangelo and has been repeated for centuries: "Do you not know that chaste women stay fresh much more than those who are not chaste? How much more in the case of the Virgin, who had never experienced the least lascivious desire that might change her body?" Most modern critics treat this answer as a half-serious deflection. Michelangelo was famous for his sharp tongue and refused to explain himself to people he considered beneath his intellect. The deeper answer is older, and it lies inside one of the greatest poems ever written. In the final canto of Dante's Paradiso, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux begins his prayer to the Virgin with one of the most extraordinary lines in Italian literature: "Vergine madre, figlia del tuo figlio." "Virgin mother, daughter of your own son." Michelangelo, who knew Dante by heart, was carving that line into stone. Mary is younger than Jesus because Jesus is older than the universe... because she gave birth to her own creator. But there is another reading, simpler than either of those, and it is the one I find myself thinking of today. Every mother who has held her child has held them at every age at once. The infant is still inside the toddler. The toddler is still inside the teenager. The young man on her lap, even dead, is also the boy she nursed and the baby she first carried home. And maybe that's why Michelangelo did not carve Mary as the years had aged her. He carved her as love had kept her: outside of time, outside of grief, holding her son the way she had always held him... Happy Mother's Day. -- -- -- If you enjoyed this, I write a weekly newsletter read by over 50,000 people who love rediscovering the beauty of the past. You can join us here: James-lucas.com/welcome I write about beauty in all its forms. If you'd like to support my work, a paid subscription is what makes it possible.

In 1963, Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry famously joked, “They’ll put a man on the moon before I hit a home run.” Remarkably, six years later—only hours after Neil Armstrong walked on the moon—Perry blasted the first and only home run of his career.

“Him whom the heavens cannot contain, the womb of one woman bore. She ruled our Ruler; she carried Him in whom we are; she gave milk to our Bread.” St. Augustine

Mother Bird Protecting Her Young from the Rain

Good Question!!

MARCO RUBIO: "The old Marxism used class warfare to divide people. The new Marxism uses identity politics. But the goal is the same."

Greg Gutfeld just delivered a savage 2-minute monologue exposing exactly why 60% of Democrats are ending relationships over politics. He nailed the hypocrisy with one brutal question about dads and Trump: “If your dad loves Trump and you love your dad — shouldn’t you maybe question whether your dad doesn’t love a Hitler figure?” GUTFELD: “You know, the difference between Dems and Republicans come down to one thing.” “They apply moral value to political preference, and that would make sense if your political party praised Hitler or protected murderers and sex fiends.” “But the mistake is, it’s not the Republicans. But they have always compared Republicans to some kind of existential threat.” “They’ve done it with climate change, they’ve done it with compassion, they do it with Trump.” “That allows them to label them as amoral.” “Republicans are not evil. We have a different path to the pursuit of happiness, and serenity…” “I don’t care that you hate Trump. Why should you care that I like him? The answer would be because he’s evil.” “He’s like a Nazi. Well, this is where the whole thing falls apart.” “What does that mean to me if I’m your Republican friend who voted for Trump? That you would believe I would support a Nazi. We’ve been friends for years.” “If you are my friend, you have to realize that’s illogical, because how were we friends for 10 or 20 years and now you find out I was a fascist?” “How did that happen?” “You knew I was a right winger in 80s, in the 90s and now all of the sudden you’re like, oh I can’t be seen with him.” “So the key moment in the self-realization of a liberal should be, if your dad loves Trump and you love your dad — shouldn’t you maybe question whether your dad doesn’t love a Hitler figure?” “And therefore, maybe Trump is not a Hitler figure, and that flaw in your thinking should put into question the reliability on your filter, on your life.” Democrats are destroying their own relationships over a lie.

Every ‘equal society’ in history ended the same way: with force. You cannot redistribute productivity without coercion. That’s the part radical socialism never admits. The more 'equality' you want, the more authoritarian it must become to enforce it.

“God is more anxious to bestow His blessings on us than we are to receive them.” ~ St. Augustine

This might be the impressive things I’ve ever seen done on a basketball court.

Michael Jordan shares his thoughts on Shaquille O’Neal 👀🔥

Those who says : I don’t submit to no man, listen to this ‼️

“All those who seek Mary's protection will be saved for all eternity.” — Pope Benedict XV

Reagan’s atheism joke👇

El término judeo-Cristianismo, es un invento de la teologia moderna, estúpido e Inexistente en los Padres de la Iglesia , porque todos entienden que la plenitud de la revelación es solo JESUCRISTO.

Sting dropped some real wisdom in his CBS Sunday Morning interview: He’s got the houses, the money, the rockstar life — but he’s telling his kids straight: none of it’s coming to you. “I think the worst thing you can do to a kid is say you don’t have to work,” he said. He sees it as a form of abuse. All his kids have that extraordinary work ethic, and he wants them to keep it. “I’m paying for your education, you’ve got shoes on your feet — now go to work.” Not cruel. Kind. A deep trust that they’ll make their own way. And when asked if they ever tell him to slow down and enjoy his wealth? “Not to my face,” he laughed. In a world obsessed with shortcuts, trust funds, and “passive income,” Sting reminds us that real confidence and character come from earning your keep. Handing everything over can quietly rob the next generation of the very fire that made you successful. I’ve seen this play out in my own life — watching how grinding through challenges built something no money could buy. The discipline and pride that comes from real work hits different. What about you — do you think parents should leave big inheritances to their kids, or is Sting right that making them earn it is the greater act of love?

Most Catholics know Mary stood at the Cross. But the CCC# 964 says something stunning: Mary “lovingly consented" to the sacrifice of her Son. That is not sentimental Marian devotion. That is supernatural holiness. At Nazareth, Mary said yes to the Incarnation. At Calvary, Mary’s yes became a sword through the soul. She did not run. She did not rage. She stood. And in faith, she consented. This is why Catholics love Mary. Not because she replaces Jesus. Because she teaches us how to follow Him when the Cross costs everything. Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us.

🚨It takes a lot of courage to say this on air in Britain. Michelle Dewberry calls it exactly right. “Why should I, as a female, be forced to get undressed in front of a male?” “It is always us women that have to suck it up. And a lot of us, by the way, are fed up with it.”

Hoy, en el Oficio de lectura, se lee la famosa Carta a Diogneto. Se trata, al parecer, de una carta que un cristiano le escribe a su amigo pagano. No tiene desperdicio. Y es breve: Carta a un pagano llamado Diogneto "Los cristianos no se distinguen de los demás hombres, ni por el lugar en que viven, ni por su lenguaje, ni por sus costumbres. Ellos, en efecto, no tienen ciudades propias, ni utilizan un hablar insólito, ni llevan un género de vida distinto. Su sistema doctrinal no ha sido inventado gracias al talento y especulación de hombres estudiosos, ni profesan, como otros, una enseñanza basada en autoridad de hombres. Viven en ciudades griegas y bárbaras, según les cupo en suerte, siguen las costumbres de los habitantes del país, tanto en el vestir como en todo su estilo de vida y, sin embargo, dan muestras de un tenor de vida admirable y, a juicio de todos, increíble. Habitan en su propia patria, pero como forasteros; toman parte en todo como ciudadanos, pero lo soportan todo como extranjeros; toda tierra extraña es patria para ellos, pero están en toda patria como en tierra extraña. Igual que todos, se casan y engendran hijos, pero no se deshacen de los hijos que conciben. Tienen la mesa en común, pero no el lecho. Viven en la carne, pero no según la carne. Viven en la tierra, pero su ciudadanía está en el cielo. Obedecen las leyes establecidas, y con su modo de vivir superan estas leyes. Aman a todos, y todos los persiguen. Se los condena sin conocerlos. Se les da muerte, y con ello reciben la vida. Son pobres, y enriquecen a muchos; carecen de todo, y abundan en todo. Sufren la deshonra, y ello les sirve de gloria; sufren detrimento en su fama, y ello atestigua su justicia. Son maldecidos, y bendicen; son tratados con ignominia, y ellos, a cambio, devuelven honor. Hacen el bien, y son castigados como malhechores; y, al ser castigados a muerte, se alegran como si se les diera la vida. Los judíos los combaten como a extraños y los gentiles los persiguen, y, sin embargo, los mismos que los aborrecen no saben explicar el motivo de su enemistad. Para decirlo en pocas palabras: los cristianos son en el mundo lo que el alma es en el cuerpo. El alma, en efecto, se halla esparcida por todos los miembros del cuerpo; así también los cristianos se encuentran dispersos por todas las ciudades del mundo. El alma habita en el cuerpo, pero no procede del cuerpo; los cristianos viven en el mundo, pero no son del mundo. El alma invisible está encerrada en la cárcel del cuerpo visible; los cristianos viven visiblemente en el mundo, pero su religión es invisible. La carne aborrece y combate al alma, sin haber recibido de ella agravio alguno, sólo porque le impide disfrutar de los placeres; también el mundo aborrece a los cristianos, sin haber recibido agravio de ellos, porque se oponen a sus placeres. El alma ama al cuerpo y a sus miembros, a pesar de que éste la aborrece; también los cristianos aman a los que los odian. El alma está encerrada en el cuerpo, pero es ella la que mantiene unido el cuerpo; también los cristianos se hallan retenidos en el mundo como en una cárcel, pero ellos son los que mantienen la trabazón del mundo. El alma inmortal habita en una tienda mortal; también los cristianos viven como peregrinos en moradas corruptibles mientras esperan la incorrupción celestial. El alma se perfecciona con la mortificación en el comer y beber; también los cristianos, constantemente mortificados, se multiplican más y más. Tan importante es el puesto que Dios les ha asignado, del que no les es lícito desertar".

En que momento el mundo se volvió tan aburrido? Sabías que hubo un tiempo en que las cosas se hacían con tanto esmero que a donde dirigieras tu mirada podrías ver arte? Que nos pasó? 🤔😔😱