On one hand, a lion’s share of the populace turn a deaf ear to human catastrophe now-a-days, thanks to the defiance resulted in the post-truth era.
“We must weep more. We have forgotten to weep. Let us ask Peter to teach us to weep like he did”; the Pontiff on the Peter’s throne exhorts. The words of Pope Francis were not sheer out of the blues. He was addressing the gravest outcome of the war in Ukraine. An illustrious but deeply grieved and vexed Lorena Bianchetti of Italian Raiuno, asked the Pope, “Your Holiness, ...there are many people who do not want war, but who are suffering from it... What is happening to humanity...?”
On the morning of Good Friday, my meditation on the passion of Lord Jesus in the backdrop of the presence of the Ukrainian warvictims under our roof, helped me draw an image of Jesus in tears. The image was later used at the Good Friday–Liturgy in the afternoon. Carolina, close associate of the Capuchin Franciscans here in the village along the Belgian-Netherlands border, sent me a message, “Tears of joy, tears of hope...because after the Cross comes the Salvation. Thank you for your gift of putting the image (in the church) ...what the heart wants to say.”
The drawing, The Final Countdown is the fruit of inspiration from the sketches I did for the devotion of the Way of the Cross this year. Those sketches were used for the devotion in several countries. They were also used for a visual representation of Pope Francis’ Prayer for Peace in Ukraine. We must weep more.
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