On our trip through Italy, Joe and I had the opportunity to visit Leonardo’s Last Supper (Cenacolo Vinciano) in the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria della Grazie in Milan. Although I had seen many replicas and pictures, seeing this most famous piece “in person” was a totally different experience. The scene is painted on one end wall in the dining room of the convent where Dominican friars once ate. The scene appears like Jesus and his apostles are dining with the friars, with the windows in the mural and the windows in the dining room all matching up. The scene is a “freeze frame”of the moment Jesus announced that one of his beloved disciples would betray him. The apostles are captured in their various reactions showing anger, shock, and surprise, moving from the strongest of the emotions portrayed being the closest to Jesus and then like a ripple effect, working their way out to the ends. What struck me was Leonardo’s use light. Of all the 13 faces in the mural, Judas’s face is the only one in the dark. His head being the lowest in the picture does not get the natural light that comes in through the refectory windows. Using the natural sunlight streaming in through the windows, the faces of all the other disciples are in the light…..only Judas is in the dark!
Light means so much to us. Think of what the lack of light implies: the “dark sheep of the family”, the “dark night of the soul”, the “dark circles under the eyes”, and the “dark and ominous sky”…all references to unequilibrium, discontent, imbalance, unhappiness, and denseness dragging you down. We have all been in the “dark” and have made decisions that brings guilt in the daylight! It’s all part of the journey, moving from the dark to Light. Realizing that living with the struggle and the imbalance of light/dark IS the school of life, allowing you to push the guilt aside.
We choose our own light. We choose to live in the Light with love or in the dark with separation. “Life is not a matter of chance, but of choices we make along the way.”
You are responsible for choosing your Light! Shine Brightly….Patty
