I was inspired to paint this image after attending World Youth Day Krakow 2016. My brother and I were on our way to Fatima, Portugal and had some layover time in the Warsaw airport in Poland. So we decided to go sit in the airport chapel. Both of us were so surprised to see a Catholic tabernacle in the public airport. I decided to spend my free time in the chapel praying my rosary. I do remember contemplating on my Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary and the book True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis Marie de Montfort.

While was I praying a very clear visual came to me of Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary sitting on a King and Queen throne. The Virgin Mary was pregnant with the world in her womb. The child Jesus gently and lovingly placed his hand and ear on the world to listen to the needs and prayers of His “brothers and sisters” within Mary’s womb. The world represents us. Jesus gave us His mother Mary to be our Heavenly Mother when he was hanging on cross (John 19:25-27). Therefore, if Mary is our Mother than we are Jesus’ brothers and sisters.

Our time on earth is like being in the womb of Mary. Mary’s womb is like a mould. In art, moulding is the process of manufacturing by shaping liquid or pliable material using a rigid frame called a mould. The mould or frame of Mary’s womb forms Jesus. So when we entrust our all and everything to the Blessed Virgin Mary and melt ourselves into the care of her womb, she in return nourishes us, teaches us, strengthens us, and forms us to be just like Jesus. Our time on earth is like a pregnancy; our death on earth is a delivery. When we die on earth we are born into eternal life and we get to meet Jesus, the King of Justice and Mercy.

Below are a couple excerpts from the Secret of Mary and True Devotion to Mary that inspired this painting:

The Secret of Mary by St. Louis Marie de Montfort

14. Mary has received a special office and power over our souls in order to nourish them and give them growth in God. St. Augustine even says that, during their present life, all the elect are hidden in Mary’s womb and that they are not truly born until the Blessed Mother brings them forth to life eternal. Consequently, just as the child draws all its nourishment from the mother, who gives it in proportion to the child’s weakness, in like manner do the elect draw all their spiritual nourishment and strength from Mary.

True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis Marie de Montfort

6. Transformation into the likeness of Jesus

218. If Mary, the Tree of Life, is well cultivated in our soul by fidelity to this devotion, she will in due time bring forth her fruit which is none other than Jesus. I have seen many devout souls searching for Jesus in one way or another, and so often when they have worked hard throughout the night, all they can say is, “Despite our having worked all night, we have caught nothing.” To them we can say, “You have worked hard and gained little; Jesus can only be recognised faintly in you.” But if we follow the immaculate path of Mary, living the devotion that I teach, we will always work in daylight, we will work in a holy place, and we will work but little. There is no darkness in Mary, not even the slightest shadow since there was never any sin in her. She is a holy place, a holy of holies, in which saints are formed and moulded.

219. Please note that I say that saints are moulded in Mary. There is a vast difference between carving a statue by blows of hammer and chisel and making a statue by using a mould. Sculptors and statue-makers work hard and need plenty of time to make statues by the first method. But the second method does not involve much work and takes very little time. St. Augustine speaking to our Blessed Lady says, “You are worthy to be called the mould of God.” Mary is a mould capable of forming people into the image of the God-man. Anyone who is cast into this divine mould is quickly shaped and moulded into Jesus and Jesus into him. At little cost and in a short time he will become Christ-like since he is cast into the very same mould that fashioned a God-man.

220. I think I can very well compare some spiritual directors and devout persons to sculptors who wish to produce Jesus in themselves and in others by methods other than this. Many of them rely on their own skill, ingenuity and art and chip away endlessly with mallet and chisel at hard stone or badly- prepared wood, in an effort to produce a likeness of our Lord. At times, they do not manage to produce a recognisable likeness either because they lack knowledge and experience of the person of Jesus or because a clumsy stroke has spoiled the whole work. But those who accept this little-known secret of grace which I offer them can rightly be compared to smelters and moulders who have discovered the beautiful mould of Mary where Jesus was so divinely and so naturally formed. They do not rely on their own skill but on the perfection of the mould. They cast and lose themselves in Mary where they become true models of her Son.

221. You may think this a beautiful and convincing comparison. But how many understand it? I would like you, my dear friend, to understand it. But remember that only molten and liquefied substances may be poured into a mould. That means that you must crush and melt down the old Adam in you if you wish to acquire the likeness of the new Adam in Mary.