The Advent of the Green Woodpecker
ADVENT IS ALL IN THIS PAINTING BY BOSCH. by Maria Gloria Riva . (Translated by L. Pavese) At the time of Advent, the figure of John the Baptist appears on the scene, shouting the urgency to prepare the way. According to the prophet Isaiah, he is yelling from the desert; but also into the desert, according to a plausible translation of the Gospel. And maybe this latter version is more suitable to our times, in which religious life (and monasticism in particular, of which John the Baptist is the symbol and patron saint) is screaming into the wilderness of a world that has no use for a Messiah. In this Advent season, which marks the beginning of a year dedicated to the consecrated life, I like to remember a painting by Hieronymus Bosch (circa 1450-1516) that offers to us a representation of John the Baptist completely different from tradition. He is not the ascetic eater of locusts, who wears rough camel hair. Rather, he is a “...