Eucharistic inspiration sparks painting
December 12, 2023
Gene McKelvey felt a nudge.
The St. Mary of Nazareth parishioner was sitting in Mass when he felt called to create a painting.
“It caught me off guard,” he said. “I may have shrugged it off.”
A longtime artist, he developed his gift into a career for a while. Life took him in another direction and he’d been out of painting for about 30 years when he felt that nudge at church.
“My response was: ‘Ok, God, how are we going to do this?’”
The resulting creation now hangs in a hallway outside St. Mary of Nazareth Church and has its own Facebook page as a way of teaching people about the True Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. The timing couldn’t be better given the nation is in the midst of a Eucharistic Revival effort focusing this year on parish projects.
After nine months and about 350 hours, McKelvey produced “Source and Summit,” a series of 24 panels that, when displayed together, show a perspective of what happens at Mass. A priest’s hands are outstretched over a cup of bread. The crucified Christ rises above the bread and, on his chest, is a heart.
“There were a number of incidents during the process that confirmed in my mind that this is something that God wanted me to do,” he said.
McKelvey calls “Source and Summit” God’s painting.
Every dab of paint represents someone who may see the painting directly or indirectly, he said.
“I was praying for them as I was painting.”
The blue and green colors in the panels are inspired by the stained glass window behind the altar at St. Mary of Nazareth Church.
The crucifix in the painting was inspired by an image he’d seen. But in that image, Jesus’ eyes were closed. McKelvey wanted Jesus’ eyes to be open so Christ in the painting is looking at those who pause to appreciate the message.
“The message I got was that Jesus wanted to have a conversation with everybody who saw the painting,” McKelvey said.
Flames in the foreground represent souls going to receive communion.
“As they get closer to Christ, they burn brighter. If you look at the edges of the painting, some flames turn away, some don’t burn as bright,” he said. “Some flames are different colors, some are blue, some yellow and red. They represent the diversity of believers.”
He thought the painting was done and had arranged to show it at an exhibit with a friend who creates free-form water color paintings.
“The night before the show at that gallery, I woke up in the middle of the night and just had this feeling I couldn’t shake that something was missing,” he said. He added small flames coming from the Blessed Mother’s robe; the flames represent the children who have died either through abortion or were stillborn.
It’s been a few years since the painting was completed and it’s now on display for parishioners and visitors to ponder.
“I like to think the timing was God’s timing,’ McKelvey said. How appropriate that the depiction of Mass be on display as the nationwide Eucharistic Revival renews emphasis on God’s love for his people through Jesus’ death and resurrection.
“There’s a lot of times when we think we know how things should work out but it may not be God’s timing,” McKelvey said.
His image has its own Facebook page at facebook.com/sourceandsummit.art as a means of teaching the truth about the Eucharist.