In volume 17 of the Quaderni del Concilio series (commissioned by Pope Francis in preparation for the 2025 Jubilee), entitled Images of the Church, Maria Gloria Riva – a cloistered nun of the Order of the Perpetual Adorers of the Most Blessed Sacrament – draws us into an exciting journey to discover the identity of the Church through artistic representations. Page after page, the Author's profound love for the Church emerges, along with her passion for art.
Who is the Church?
The Author begins with numbers 6-8 of Lumen gentium (Latin for “Light of the Nations”), one of the four constitutions of the Second Vatican Council.
Here, in the end, the Council answers a single question: “Who is the Church?”. In this way, the Church paints its self-portrait, outlining its profound identity, its nature, and its universal mission.
The beauty of the Church is summed up in its being «the sign and instrument of intimate union with God and of the unity of all mankind» (LG 1); in being the people of God, whose origin is in God the Trinity, structured in the image and likeness of Trinitarian communion and journeying toward the Trinity.
To speak about the Church, Lumen gentium uses various images (nos. 6-7), firmly rooted in Sacred Scripture, which it is very important to explore and which allow us to draw closer to the mystery it represents.
A journey to discover the face of the Church
Maria Gloria Riva sketches this identity in a highly original and compelling way, focusing on the images of the Church proposed by Lumen gentium and bringing them vividly before our eyes through art (with constant references to mosaics, frescoes, paintings, icons, and buildings). Step by step, the face of the Church takes shape, expressed through the art of every age and revealing the surprising power of faith.
From the mosaic artists of early Christian art to contemporary artists, we are led on an exciting journey to discover the faces of the Church of Christ: sheepfold and flock; shepherd and gate of salvation; root and vine; heavenly Jerusalem and mystical body of the Savior, bride of Christ and our mother.
These images of the Church, which the Council offers us along with others, are closely interconnected. Each of us may perhaps feel particularly drawn to one of them in keeping with our own spiritual sensitivity, but if we commit ourselves to considering them as a whole, we will be able to grasp the reality of the Church more fully in all its richness of meaning.
We hope that, by contemplating the beauty of the images of the Church, we may all become ever more a Church that is a sign of Trinitarian communion.
