The Spiritual Works of Mercy – Consoling the Afflicted
The Works of Mercy recommended by the Church do not have priority over one another, but all are of equal importance
This work of Spiritual Mercy aims to lift man from affliction, which is a particular state of sorrow in which the human soul can find itself. Cabianca (1827/1902), one of Tuscany’s best-known Macchiaioli painters, painted in 1858, a picture, “L’ abbandonata,” in which he expresses better than words, the discomfort, the inability, at times, to be able to work to console the afflicted. It all takes place in a setting typical of modest provincial houses, miserable, but dignified, where a distraught woman indulges in her affliction, while in a corner of the room, they question each other with glances, the elderly mother and a learned visitor because, as often happens, they do not know how to intervene to deal with certain situations. The play of light and shadow, the colors alternating on warm hues, make the sad situation of the characters more understandable.
Certainly the Gospel several times speaks of Jesus’ affliction with Lazarus, with Jerusalem, with the hardness of the human heart, and among them, Jesus stopping to console the women who follow him to Calvary. Vasari (1511/1574), a notable Renaissance writer, architect and painter, makes a large depiction of this episode, in Santa Croce in Florence. The characters are arranged without leaving space between them, without perspective, in an overlapping of violent gestures, grim faces, glitter of armor, which render the drama of that moment.
He places on one side the pious women who, moved by merciful charity, follow him and support his grieving Mother. Among them, Veronica approaches him to wipe his face; Jesus stops to console and is consoled by the small gesture of love. Jesus, attracted and surprised by so much goodness, looks at the woman who wipes her face, and has words of comfort for the others around him helpless and afflicted as well, words and looks, small acts of mercy, that seem to hush the din of human ferocity.
Silvestro Lega (1826-1895), one of Tuscany’s most important Macchiaioli painters, remained poor throughout his life despite having left us such a valuable artistic legacy as the painting “The Visit.” The families who hosted him on the outskirts of Florence allowed him not only to work but also to observe in order to eternalize those moments of daily life that the Tuscan landscape and its people offered. The “visit is a glimpse into the way of living a painful moment of everyday life with a simplicity that becomes solemn. Here the mistress of the house, in a black dress showing her probable mourning, goes to meet two young sisters who greet her affectionately, while the mother of the maidens, is about to join the group. The atmosphere is wintry, the cold, biting air of the landscape, and the bare trees in the small garden give us a sense of the grief that has befallen the lady of the house. The measured simplicity of the characters’ attitudes, hint at how welcome the comfort one can receive from friendly people, who go to meet those in affliction.
The artist’s affliction is also great when the members of the family that had hosted him, die one after another from consumption, but decisive turns out to be the consoling friendship of families and friends who give him help and hospitality. Thanks to them, the author resumed his fruitful creativity, but he contracted an eye disease and, after leaving us beautiful masterpieces, died of stomach cancer in 1892, cared for and consoled to the last by his friends. Today we have the opportunity to witness situations of misfortune, anguish and affliction of those who suffer, and this cannot leave us indifferent, nor are great gestures of help required of us, but God’s mercy can always win out over everything, even if with a few words of comfort, a little material help or a few friendly visits to those who are alone with their pain.
