Tuesday, September 24, 2024

“RESURGAM”

         A lovely painting hung in the lobby of my apartment building for several years, its contents gratifying me every time I walked past. But I kept quiet and never commented because I didn’t want it taken down. Then the lobby was refurbished and the painting was marked for disposal. My wife laid claim to it for me; in very short order, it took a place of honor over my desk.

What was so beautiful about it? The scene is a huge ancient brick wall with an arched doorway centered in a still larger arch. On both sides grow thick, green-leaved bushes with a touch of red blossoms overhead. Through the doorway is visible a garden of shrubbery, trees, and an upward spurting fountain; two sculpted figures stand in and under the water.

Can this be symbolic? An open doorway in a great wall? A passageway into a garden? A fountain springing and washing over the figures?

It is to me! Between the upper and lower arches of the doorway is a little cross, and below it, in great capital letters, “RESURGAM”— “I SHALL RISE AGAIN”.

Let’s just take a look into the Bible for a minute. There are several gardens mentioned there: - the garden of Eden, the garden of Gethsemane, and an unnamed garden near the cross[1] where an unknown Gardener later spoke to Mary Magdalene.[2] Can this image be that garden near the cross? And on Saturday?

The gate is open, the fountain is flowing for cleansing—nothing is blocking the entrance.

And Sunday is coming!

 


[Editor’s note: The painting is “Floral Doorway” by Cyrus Afsary. The cross and that one word are in fact details from a doorway of San Juan Capistrano Mission in California.]




[1] John 19:41.

[2] John 20:15.