The First Mass in Brazil, painted by Victor Meirelles in 1861 |
1) If I were an artist, I would make a discovery nativity scene based on the painting of the first mass in Brazil, by Victor Meirelles, and the Christmas nativity scene.
2) The image, in addition to inspiring patriotism, it also inspires piety. The Indians, who, before the arrival of the Portuguese, were animals bestialized by sin, became people when they began to feed on the Eucharist, which was first given to the animals in the manger, since the Savior made man was not welcomed in a marked world by animals that lie, that only know how to keep what is convenient and dissociated from the truth.
3.1) The nativity scene remembers the birth of Christ - and the discovery nativity scene remembers the birth of this earth under Christ, through the first mass.
3.2) The Portuguese, in the nativity scene, act like the three wise men: they brought us the language, faith, culture and the mission of serving Christ in distant lands - our gold, our frankincense and our myrrh. And this causes us to sanctify ourselves through work to the point of becoming a rich and prosperous land, since truth is the foundation of freedom, since Christ is the way, the truth and the life - and no one goes to the Father except through the Son, just as no one goes to the Son except through his Mother, Holy Mary.
José Octavio Dettmann
Rio de Janeiro, April 28th, 2021 (date of original post).