Day Eighteen: Poster Review, Part One

                “What does Jesus ‘look like’?” If I ask this question on the first day of class, most of my students will respond with superficial descriptions of a middle-aged man with long hair and a beard. Some of the better-catechized kids might say He has dark skin, and that may even describe His clothes. But the way we have been talking about the Trinity has, maybe, expanded their understanding of what it means when we ask what Jesus “looks like”.

Knock Shrine in Knock, Co. Mayo, Ireland. Jesus "looks like"a lamb in the apparition at Knock. This is one of the few Marian apparitions that is really a vision of Jesus. In the Apparition, Mary says nothing...she stands still with St. Joseph, and St. John the Evangelist, all worshiping the "Lamb of God", the humble image of Jesus. (photo P. Smith).

                In the past, for prayer, I have created slide shows of different “faces” of Jesus. I present a variety of artistic interpretations of what the historical Jesus may have looked like. If you are reading this, you probably have your own favorite images that resonate with you for one reason or another. I still like this as part of the prayer, but I am especially interested in helping my students to remember that the “face of Jesus”, on a deeper level, is a face of humility and relationship. So we find Scripture that represents this. Flip through the Gospels and you will find “images” of Jesus’ humility. Look on the same page and there is Jesus building relationships with the poor, the suffering, the rich, and the comfortable. We read this Scripture and ponder what it looks like when we are humble and when we build relationships. I challenge my students in prayer that we are called to be the “face of Jesus” for those same people. We are called to “look like” Jesus, not physically, but in how we Love and are Loved by each other. This prayer potentially demolishes the Bellwork they have done, but when we share the Bellwork with each other, I remind them that Jesus is much, much more than an historical person… He is the Incarnation of a transcendent Love.