This painting “led” me rather than me leading it. It was not an image that I had in my mind before painting. It began with what seemed a yellowy-orange desert scene, then the diamond, followed by the maze and lastly the buildings and the circular shapes above It seemed to cohere as a unified image. The centrepiece is the diamond – it has several meanings for me which surfaced after the gem had been painted. The diamond is central to St Teresa of Avila’s “Interior Castle” where it represents the human soul as well as the immanent Divine Indwelling, the Eternal Presence. In her book she speaks of the seven mansions that can be a progression for us as we seek to know God – from purgative, to illuminative, to unitive way. In the painting the seven mansions form an avenue towards the diamond.

The maze is our journey through life with all the twists and turns we have to make as we are confronted and challenged by our situations .The light and circle above the diamond are an intimation of the love of the Father and Spirit while the red colour is the sign of sacrifice and love of the Son. In the book by Richard Rohr “Immortal Diamond”, he traces the discovery of the True Self as we progress through life. His title is taken from the poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins, “That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire and of the comfort of the Resurrection”. It ends

I am all at once what Christ is, | since he was what I am, and

This Jack, joke, poor potsherd, | patch, matchwood, immortal diamond,

Is immortal diamond.