Slideshow image

Look at the picture attached to this story. It is the less famous paininting of the Last Supper. Barna da Siena's medieval paiting is the backdrop to today's reflection on Maundy Thursday. 

Notice the open seat at the table. It is for you. Identify with the apostles, all of whom were shown to be somewhere on the scale of frightened to treasonous. What woud you have done if it were you at that open space at the table, the night that Jesus was betrayed?

As Barna added the finishing strokes to his Last Supper masterpiece, a deadly pandemic had begun circling the globe. We know it as the Black Death. In the horror of that day and the distress of our own, the Passion of Christ reminds us that light has come into the world, and the darkness has not overcome it. Suffering will cease. Death will not win.

And I am offered forgiveness.

Access the short devotional reflection (4 min read) by clicking --> here <--