The Emmaus Relief at the Parking Lot Entrance

I was so pleased when I realized that the Gospel for the Third Sunday of Easter this year was Luke's story of the two disciples on the road the Emmaus. The reason for that gladness was that this Gospel message from Saint Luke is the inspiration for the beautiful bass relief artwork that you see when you enter the parking lot entrance of our church. It was commissioned, designed and created by the artist, Andrzej Praszczyk who we might say is our artist in residence. Andrzej created the relief that is outside the parish offices in our Ministry Center, he designed the crucifixes that are in our Ministry Center and part of our school and he crafted the beautiful sculpture of Mary and Jesus outside our new middle school addition. Andrzej's artwork in our church depicts a moment in the Gospel story of the Road to Emmaus that you rarely see. Most of the artwork on this theme depicts Jesus walking with the Disciples on the road or Jesus at table with the Disciples so they recognize Him in the breaking of the break. Our masterpiece depicts the moment in between where the Disciples, Cleopas and his unnamed wife, have arrived at their home and are inviting Jesus - who they still do not recognize - to stay with them. The Disciples, of course, are you and I on our journey of faith and the house that we invite Jesus in to 'stay with us' - the title of this work of art - is our very own church. The roses at the base of the relief show us as a Catholic Presence in Madison, the Rose City. The male disciple has his arms outstretched in a sign of welcome, symbolizing the hospitality we want to show as a faith community. The face of the woman disciple reflects an earnest desire to know the Lord in a deeper way which is what we strive to do as a church. Jesus himself, staff in hand showing him as our Good Shepherd, stands ready to gather us into his fold and lead us on the path of life. The word he speaks to us and the bread he breaks with us strengthens our faith and brings us into a more profound experience of the kerygma. He loves us and gave his life to save us and now is living at our side every day to enlighten, strengthen and free us. The "in between" moment depicted in this bass relief has a particular meaning for us as it reflects the truth that as disciples we live in the already, but not yet - we experience the Kingdom of God in many ways in our lives yet we know that the fullness of that Kingdom is still to come, a fullness we pray for and work for in our day to day life. We are a pilgrim people, the Church of God, living in the in-between as stewards of creation with our sights set on heaven. In the weeks ahead I will take you through all of the new artwork in our church, specifically our new stained glass windows and our mosaic - next week - our Blessed Mother window in our north gathering space.

Stained Glass Window Descriptions