Emmanuel
Ten years ago, Mother Mary Thomas was commissioned to paint a
giant mural (30’x16’) for Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Parish in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Drawing from her extensive experience as
an artist as well as her training with the great Mexican mural artist
David Alfaro Siqueiros, she passionately embraced this project.
Sensitive to the cultural setting of the parish and the values of the
people who worshiped there, she depicted Mary and Jesus as African
Americans and surrounded them by American saints and significant
influences such as Saint Katherine Drexel and Sister Thea Bowman.
Thus, the painting itself gives a rich sense of the significance of the
incarnation, that Christ truly united himself to all people and can be
depicted in every different race and cultural setting.
Readers of Emmanuel will also take special note of the strong
eucharistic influence, as Mother Mary Thomas depicts not only Our
Lady of the Blessed Sacrament and the Eucharist but also eucharistic
saints like Saint Peter Julian Eymard, who can be seen peering over
Mary’s shoulder to gaze upon the Eucharist he dedicated his life to
proclaiming.
Sadly, in 2013, Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Parish closed, and
so Mother Mary Thomas was left with a 30 foot unfinished painting
without a permanent place to display it. Heartbroken, not only for
the many years of work she had put into the painting but also for the
people of the parish who had lost their church, Mother Mary Thomas
found it difficult to continue.
Thankfully, through the persistent encouragement of friends and
supporters, instead of quitting Mother Mary Thomas took up her
brushes and broadened her vision. She creatively redesigned the
entire lower half of the composition to include an even greater crosssection of the church, from the inclusion of Pope Francis in the bottom
left to everyday people like a migrant worker and a gospel singer.
In fact, Mother Mary Thomas was adamant that everyone should be
included in this mystical communion of all people gathered around
the Eucharist. As she says, “I just wanted to get everybody in there. Us,
you know, ourselves. So, I wouldn’t want to just have canonized saints.
I really want people from all walks of life.”
As such, the mural draws strongly from the theological heritage of
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