The expression memento mori immediately brings to my mind the various paintings of St Jerome by one of my favorite Renaissance painters.
Known simply as Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610) had a fiery temper and troubled life but painted some of the most thoughtful biblical art pieces I have ever come across.
Here are two of his paintings of St Jerome, a doctor of the Roman Catholic church.
Known for his Latin translation of the Bible, the Vulgate, St Jerome is depicted here as someone who knows death as imminent. The presence of a skull symbolizing our mortality as seen in Caravaggio’s paintings.
How would you live your everyday if you knew death is on its way?
How would you use this day differently?
I attended two funerals this week. They were celebrations of lives well lived and a very sacred time to stop and “Memento Mori.” The Pastor mentioned in the eulogy of one of the men that had passed away that he loved God and his word. That verse in Psalm just reminded me of him. He was daily excitedly reading the Bible and satisfied by the “honey of the word.”
I loved learning this Latin phrase today to remind me, like the funerals did, that I too must die. Looking at my own mortality regularly is a very healthy exercise and as Eugene Peterson says—— keeps me on the path of the long obedience in the same direction.
With deep respect for your willingness to grow, hear and practice what God has to teach you. Thank you for your sharing and your example, Terry.