Roma. Vaticano (Pietá de Miguel Angel)., originally uploaded by josemazcona.

" I have been thinking … of the first and only time I saw Michelangelo's Pieta. It was the at the 1964 World's Fair in Flushing Meadow, New York. I was thirteen, and the excitement was, for a kid from a small New England town, a mixture of awe and apprehension at the sheer magnitude of the event. High on everyone's list of things not to miss at the fair were the General Motors, Ford and IBM pavilions, and a pilgrimage to see the Pieta. Some 4 1/2 centuries after Michelangelo laid down his chisel, the marble sculpture had been carefully crated, rigged with a special flotation device (just in case its voyage across the Atlantic ran into trouble), and installed in the borough of Queens. I have no memory at all of what the Vatican pavilion housing the masterpiece was like, but the enormous line of people and the endless wait remain vivid. Inside the pavilion, alone on a stage amid diaphanous blue veils and thousands of sparking lights, sat the Most Famous Sculpture in the World. Recorded hymns swelled in the air and spectators on multitiered moving sidewalks were transported past the masterpiece. " - "Last Chance for Eden," a collection of art criticism by Christopher Knight

Gal: 4:4 But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. - Paul's Letter to the Galatians - Chapter 4

Simeon took the Baby Jesus in his arms and praised God, saying: "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel." … Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too." - Luke's Gospel - Chapter 2