LITTLE ACORN

Acrylic on archival quality masonite. 18 x 22”

On a magnificent fall dayI was walking near a massive old oak tree and began to pick up the acorns scattered on the ground. While holding them I pondered on how Our Lord chose to come into this world as the tiniest of ‘acorns’ in the fertile ground of his Holy Mother’s womb. We live in an age that discounts all that is small and hidden, but God, in choosing to enter into the fullness of time in the secret garden 

of the virgin’s womb, exalts all that is small and unseen. The Master of the Universe embraces entering a sinful world in the most dire poverty, hiddenness and 

sublime humility.

The picture depicts the Blessed Mother moments after the Angel Gabriel has delivered his joyous message that “The Power of the Most High will overshadow you.” Gabriel has incensed Mary in preparation for this momentous occasion.

Mary truly is a prayerful holocaust. In ecstasy, after she has given her ‘ffiat' she becomes the Mother of God. She holds the “Little Acorn” in one hand and in the other a ‘Golden Oak Leaf’. This represents the reality that she will now walk with her 

Son throughout his life and share in his sorrows even into eternity.The Golden Oak Leaf' represents the promise that Christ will return. Not as a “Little Acorn” but as a Blazing Majestic Oak that all of the living and the dead will

see in all His Majesty. Mary, too, will share in His glory. On her gown are three broaches that represent Mary’s unity with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In her ‘ffiat’ Mary accepts that the cross will never be far from her. Even as she calls out to her suffering children today, she continues to share her Son’s anxiety for His children who remain out in the cold.

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