Following Jesus
Diptych with Mary and Her Son Flanked by Archangels, Apostles and a Saint, Ethiopia, 15th century, tempera on wood, left panel: 8 7/8 x 7 13/16 x 5/8 inches (The Walters Art Museum) When Jesus called Simon and Andrew, he promised them that if they followed him he would make them fishers of people.* I […]
Witness
Bearing witness is what they do, these friends and neighbors horrified by masked thugs hauling away people who simply look like they might be immigrants. Phones out. Videos on, they testify, risking life and limb. Will it be enough? John the Baptist left the security of doctrine and dogma to live in the desert and […]
Who, Me?
When I picked up the phone, my friend said: “I might just need you to tell me I’m forgiven.” To be clear, she had done nothing to hurt me; the situation for which she wanted absolution had nothing to do with me, even tangentially. She had intervened with good intentions in a situation that ended […]
Magic
The nativity set is as old as I am, and one of the few things from my childhood that remain. That, and me, and my little sister’s ornaments. When I found out that the wise men came almost two years after Jesus’ birth, I began putting them across the room from Mary, Joseph and the […]
