“La Mano Poderosa”

The Casa this year is full of museum lovers, and one Saturday in September, several of us ventured downtown to the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The last few weeks of ministry had been getting busier, so it was refreshing to quietly wander the museum, weaving in and out of each other’s paths. I began to notice that everyone had different artistic preferences. Some spent equal amounts of time with each work of art, while others lingered over one piece but not another. One of my housemates loved a painting about war correspondents that I had failed to notice altogether. Another loved looking at landscapes, while I was instead enchanted by any painting with people in them, particularly mothers and children. 

One piece of art that happened to catch my eye at the American Museum was a small statue called “La Mano Poderosa,” attributed to the Caban Group, somewhere between 1875 and 1925. It looks like a hand reaching out with a small figure perched on top of each finger. It seemed to be Christian religious imagery, but I had never seen anything like it before. When I read about it later, I learned that it is a Mexican Catholic image, translating to “The Powerful Hand.” La Mano Poderosa symbolizes Christ’s wounded hand at the Crucifixion. The red marks on the palm represent His wounds. The five figures sitting on the fingers represent the Holy Family: the Infant Jesus on the thumb, the Virgin Mary on the index finger, followed by St Joseph, then Saints Anne and Joachim, Mary’s parents. The two metal offerings in the shape of a leg and a human chest attached to the thumb were placed there by a worshiper whose ailments were healed.

I was intrigued by this idea: the hand of God holding up and connecting individuals. Together, through God, “all powerful.” Christ rests on the thumb, the most critical finger on our hands. The image reminded me of a favorite prayer of mine – “Christ has no body but yours,” written by St Teresa of Avila. The prayer goes on to say “Yours are the eyes with which He looks Compassion on this world, Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good”. 

The devotion of La Mano Poderosa and the St. Teresa prayer are expressing slightly different ideas, but what remains with me is the idea that human beings are God’s hands in the world. As each of us here at DC Service Corps go to our ministry sites, we will be Christ to the people we work with and serve, just as they are to us in turn. Just as each finger performs a different role on the hand, each of us represents Christ in a different way. My housemates are working in a variety of roles; I have little aptitude to work at most of them. Luckily for me, I do not have to, because each of our unique abilities and preferences allow us to serve God in different ways. We might wander the museum differently, bring different skills to our ministry sites, or have different desires to serve, but with God we can come together to form one whole.

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which He looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which He blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are His body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

— St. Teresa of Ávila (attributed)

Question for Reflection: What work of art resonates with you and has had a lasting impact on you?