The Nativity by Federico Barocci (c. 1535 – 1612). Reflections on the painting.

Sometimes, we look but do not see the total message in the painting. Here, Barocci's soft, opalescent renderings evoke the ethereal. Such studies were part of a complex process Barocci used to complete his paintings. Barocci did innumerable sketches: gestural, compositional, figural studies (using models), lighting studies (using clay models), perspective studies, color studies, nature studies, etc. Today, over 2,000 drawings by him are extant. Barocci's genius kept the brushstrokes passionate and liberated, and a spiritual light seems to flicker as a jewel across faces, hands, and drapery. Yes, seeking God demands effort, perseverance, discipline.

The focus of the painting is the Child Jesus, from whom the light floods and covers the entire little room in Bethlehem. Outside Christ, there is no light.

The first person to receive this light is the Virgin Mary; she is looking at the Child attentively in an attitude of adoration. She is his mother and still He is her God.

The Child Jesus is wrapped in swaddling clothes. Mary reveals to us that he is also endowed with a human nature, that is why he needs swaddling clothes, like every other human baby does. Mary testifies that He is God and man.

The donkey and the ox are peacefully gazing at the Child. They represent the animal kingdom, part of God's creation. They do not need to be forced to acknowledge the Child as their God, they do so naturally.

Farther on, we see two shepherds still outside, still in darkness, representing the people of Israel expecting the Messiah for many centuries. Moreover, they represent everyone else, trying to find meaning, sense of purpose for one’s existence. We can find these only in Jesus.

Saint Joseph is pointing out to the Child. He does not remain sitting down or silent, or indifferent, but he is announcing that the Child is here, that the Messiah we all were expecting, is already with us. Saint Joseph tells us that the attitude of a Christian is to announce Christ to all, from inside this little room, from inside the Church, in our ordinary occupations, to those outside because He is our salvation.

Saint Joseph opens and guards the door of the little room in Bethlehem. That room is the Church; it is so because Christ is at the heart of it.

On the lower left side, we find a basket presumably with grapes, semi covered with the traveling hat of Mary, and a sack with grain. This suggests to us the Eucharist as the heart of the Church. We find the living Jesus, first, in the Eucharist. That grain and those grapes are waiting to be transformed into the body and blood of Christ, by the action of the Holy Spirit.

The Eucharist makes the Church and Mary is the Eucharistic woman who tenderly prepares the matter of the sacrament and protects it with her hat. Mary is the Mother in the Church and of the Church.