The New Eve Window

During Holy Week 2006, a new stained-glass window entitled “The New Eve” was installed in the Chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe here at Christ the Redeemer Parish. The window, placed immediately above the altar, is the focus of the Chapel. It is the creation of Ronald Neal Dixon of the Dixon Studio, Staunton, Virginia. Like all the stained glass windows installed to date this window was commissioned by Christ the Redeemer Parish

The central figure of the window is Mary, the New Eve. Mary is clothed in several shades of dark blue, the traditional color for symbolizing her role as the Mother of God. More common in Eastern art than Western, these dark colors tell of the night waiting for the dawn. These colors speak of Mary’s waiting and giving birth to the light of the Son of Justice. The night begets the day and new life comes in Jesus, Son of God and Son of Mary.

Mary stands raised above the earth, hinting at her Assumption and Coronation, a woman clearly sharing in her Son’s victorious Resurrection. Hinted with the light, the planets, the heavens, and the earth in the window, one is reminded of the Book of Revelation on the Feast of the Assumption: “A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. Because she was with child, she wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth.” (Revelation 12:1) She gave birth to Christ, the new creation.

In her left hand Mary holds a rose, a sign of the new life in Christ. Near the rose is the Holy Spirit, whose power overshadowed Mary at the Annunciation and by whose power the new creation occurs in the Christ. The rose also has a connection with the roses in the Guadalupe Windows. Another Guadalupe connection is the Birth of Jesus. The traditional depiction of Guadalupe is with the black girdle of maternity, which is an indigenous Mexican sign of an expectant mother. Mary at Guadalupe appeared with this sign about her waist.

The new creation theme in the window draws on other dimensions in the Chapel. Under the spirituality of Guadalupe are the “flowers and songs” or the “flor y canto” of the Mayan Indians, where they discovered divine actions in their lives. The San Damiano cross recalls the Franciscan tradition of God’s presence in creation. The blossoming of the wheat and grapes on either side of Mary recall something of Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Creatures. The globes with the various stages of the wheat and grapes suggest the movement of the harvest seasons of the earth. The globe immediately to Mary’s left is the brightest pointing to Christ. The globes move from winter to fall, from left to the right of the window.

Like all art, the window invites the believer to prayer. Stained glass allows motion: light entering the room, our vision participating in creation outside, the colors and textures of the glass suggest motion and life. God moves in the experience and we are invited to be embraced by the mystery beyond ourselves. The “New Eve” is an invitation to prayer and meditation.

CDH