The Virgin, weighed with the Word of God, comes down the road: if only you’ll shelter her.
Del Verbo divino la Virgen preñada viene de camino: ¡si le dais posada!
Saint John of the Cross Poetry, 13
This detailed view of Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem for the census comes from the Portarini Altarpiece or Portarini Triptych (Left Panel) by the Flemish painter Hugo van der Goes (c. 1440–1482). Executed in oil on panel ca. 1475, it was commissioned by Bruges banker Tommaso Portarini for Florence’s Santa Maria Nuova Hospital, to serve as the altarpiece for the hospital chapel. If you examine the left panel carefully, you’ll see that the artist has placed St. Joseph, the Blessed Virgin, the faithful donkey, and the head of a bovine creature on the rocky outcrop above the head of Saint Anthony. The altarpiece is now part of the collection in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain).
John of the Cross, St. 1991, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, Revised Edition, translated from the Spanish by Kavanaugh, K and Rodriguez, O with revisions and introductions by Kavanaugh, K, ICS Publications, Washington DC.
I have a friend in Italy with a pre current times invite to stay. I have a sudden desire for him to take me to see the Uffizi one day… beautiful poetry (as one would of course expect).
Carmelite Quotes 
I have a friend in Italy with a pre current times invite to stay. I have a sudden desire for him to take me to see the Uffizi one day… beautiful poetry (as one would of course expect).
It is a memorable venue!