The face of Jesus

A story is told about a beloved friar from Sicily, named Epifanio, who loved to paint. His dream was that one day he would paint the face of Jesus, so that people can admire it even after he dies. Even though he searched for months to find a young man to pose for his portrait of Christ, he just could not find the right person. However, one night he dreamt that he saw an angel who told him: “If you want to paint the real face of Jesus, make sure you include in his image: the joy of a bride on her wedding day, the innocence of childhood, the strength of a farmer tilling his field, the illness of a sick patient, the secret tears of a  sorrowful father, the kind heart of an elderly mother, the uncertainty of an orphaned child and the forgiveness of a confessor.” So Epifanio stopped searching for a face, but instead started to paint Jesus’ face, and included all the characteristics that the angel mentioned to him. And his final image has a little bit of everything – joy and sorrow, mercy and suffering, strength and sickness, a mixture of life’s ups and downs. Let us pause and see in others, the face of Christ, and understand that He is closer to us than we know, crying with us when we feel sad, and smiling with us when we are joyful.