Caravaggio’s “Seven Works of Mercy”

Caravaggio’s work is full of twisted bodies, and battered feet, and striking juxtapositions of light and dark. “Seven Works of Mercy,” painted in the early 1600s, is nearly 4 meters tall—so, yes, let’s just say the work is huge, a huge depiction of misericordia.

Caravaggio_-_Sette_opere_di_Misericordia

Why is this painting one of the stars of the Higher Love show? It’s not because it portrays mercy—at least, it’s not that per se; it’s that it portrays mercy being acted out in the streets. And that’s where we find our miracles, our redemption, our big tent.

Higher Love finds the holy in the most unlikely places—we’re not pew-sitters. If something holy is gonna happen, we don’t believe it will necessarily be in a church—it could just as well be in the streets, in the water, in the fire.

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