Directly opposite St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue in New York City there is a bronze sculpture of the mythological Greek god called Atlas. Installed in 1937, the sculpture is some 45ft tall and, like many other sculptures of Atlas he appears to have the weight of the world on his shoulders.
The oldest extant statue of Atlas is known as the Farnese Atlas dating from around the 2nd century AD. The sculpture is currently located at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, Italy.
In the original Greek, Atlas isn’t holding up the world at all, he’s holding up the sky.
There is nothing like taking a little (or somewhat heavy) license when creating a sculpture is concerned
Atlas with the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Daniel Bonnell is a noted published artist whose work is found around the world, in churches, cathedrals, and private collections.
One of his artworks it titled “The Weight of the Word”.
It might well suggest that it is no easy ride being The Word Made Flesh, and it is no easy responsibility carrying that Word.
In Orthodox Christianity there has been, since the 4th century a word used to describe Mary. The Greek word is ‘theotokos’, a word meaning “God-bearer”.
Today, in our liturgy, we have another God-bearer – the donkey which Jesus rides into the city of Jerusalem (Mtt. 21:1 – 11)
As baptised women, men and children we are called to be “theotokos” – to bear Christ into the environment I call home, to my place of work, my place of socializing and recreation.
Dare to become a donkey and carry the “weight of the Word” wherever.