As we make our way through the month of May looking at new images of the Virgin Mary from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, I have selected two unusual works this week, showing the Mother of Christ in meditation. As we know from Luke 2:19, following the birth of Christ and the visit of the shepherds, Mary "kept all these things and pondered them in her heart." These two contemplative Marian portraits were made by Romanian artists in the popular national folk art form of reverse glass painting, where all the finishing details of an image are painted first onto the reverse side of a glass pane before the background coloring and gold leaf are added. In one glass icon in a traditional style by an unknown artist, we see the Mother of Christ as Our Lady of Sorrows (left) in multi-colored robes and a gilded halo-like headdress, gazing grief-stricken at her dying son on the Cross. Artist and Fashion Designer Constantin Ciprian Irimia offers a strikingly different view of a modern, matronly Mary without the conventional trappings of veil and halo, glimpsed in a moment of profound reflection. These two new folk art images of a meditative Mother of Christ can be found in the image gallery of the Romanian glass icons page in the Schools of Sacred Art section. (John Kohan)