In our video series "Art That Surrounds Us," Johan van Parys, Ph.D., our Director of Liturgy and Sacred Arts, shares information about a piece from The Basilica of Saint Mary's art collection.

Recently we acquired a new painting, which is hanging from the pulpit in The Basilica. Its title is Sanctuary. It was painted by acclaimed artist Janet McKenzie. McKenzie says that, as a mother, she felt called to paint Sanctuary as she mourned with the many mothers of color who have lost a child. As she was working on this painting she kept coming back to Psalm 61: 4 -- "Let me live forever in your sanctuary, safe beneath the shelter of your wings.”