"Jesus to Mary Magdalene: I am Going to My Father and Your Father, to My God and Your God – John 20:11-18. Mary is the first person to see Jesus transformed into the Christ. He commands Mary Magdalene to go tell the disciples what she has witnessed. “Say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and to your Father, to my God and to yours.’” The earliest clergymen gave her the rarefied title, “Apostle to the Apostles.” In September 2016, Pope Francis elevated Mary Magdalene naming her again the, “Apostle to the Apostles”. The synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke have other women with Mary Magdalene at the tomb. However, in John 20:1-18—the text recounts Mary Magdalene being there alone. The Bible references: Matthew 28:1-2— Mary and the “other” Mary are present when an angel of the Lord descends, causing the guards to faint. Matthew uses seismic activity as a literary device in his gospel for describing this earth-shaking event! Jesus becomes the New Adam, having conquered death, and thus ushers in a new Creation. Jesus the Christ is the eternal gardener, tilling up the soil and planting new seeds of awareness in a new Eden. Jesus’s teachings bring the next generations into spiritual life, redeemed in a new world. Christ, the Tree of Life, is a life-giving spirit accessible to all of humankind. He is the divine gardener within every human being, regardless of gender."

Narrative Icon Collection

The collection of 12 narrated biblical event and feast days are taken from my book Life in Christ 2021, Knowledge of God made visible in Jesus the Man.

Mary Jane Miller is a self-taught Byzantine style iconographer with over 28 years of experience, born in New York and living in Mexico full time. Her collections of sacred art are contemporary, with a proficient command of egg tempera. The work is extraordinarily rich in style and has been exhibited in museums and churches in both the United States and Mexico. As an author, Miller blends historical content and personal insights to arrive at contemporary conclusions about faith. Her six self-published books include Icon Painting Revealed, Mary in iconography, In Light of Women, and Life in Christ and The Stations. Miller has been published online and in publications such as Divine Temple, Russian Orthodox Journal, Faith and Forum Magazine, Liturgy Today and Profiles of Catholicism. She teaches 4 courses annually, 5-day immersion workshops throughout the US and Mexico. Website: https://www.millericons.com/, https://sanmiguelicons.com/