May is the month dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In this present troubling--and for many traumatic--time, I've selected a quartet of images by international women artists in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection showing a solitary, contemplative Mother of Christ, who, we know from the New Testament nativity narratives, came to understand the dramatic events of her life by "pondering these things in her heart." Iconmaker Biljana Bilbiloska of Macedonia shows a pensive Mary in an austere Byzantine style whose pursed lips and expressive eyes suggest she has glimpsed the coming Crucifixion. Brazilian Painter Telma Morais presents a youthful Virgin Mother equally aware of her part in the drama of salvation. New Mexican Artist Sheila Mahoney Keefe gives us a soulful Mary in a stylized version of one of the oldest images of the Madonna in Rome’s Church of Santa Francesca Romana. It's a Mystery, the title of Canadian Mixed Media Artist Lorette Luzajic's Marian-blue collage (above), says it all, as we glimpse tears flowing down the checks of the prayer-bead clutching Mother of Christ. The four images can be viewed on The Magnificat page of The Coming of Christ gallery in The Life of Christ section. (John Kohan)