Veronica

Today is Veronica's day on the calendar. When I watched the movie "The Passion of Christ", I recognized her (as I saw so much other usage of history and art in the movie - like I loved the frozen scene reminding me of Michelangelo's 'Pieta').

The very name "Veronica" comes from "vera icon" meaning "true image".

Was there a Veronica as Jesus carried the load of His cross - dragging, stumbling, collapsing, sweating ...who wiped Jesus' face? It is claimed there is a cloth, a relic, which bears the image of Christ. I don't focus on whether there's a cloth with a miraculous face image of Jesus.

I like to believe there was a woman of compassion, who stepped out of the crowd of onlookers, and helped Jesus, by wiping the sweat from his eyes and face. My focus is given to the love and charity that prompted her action. This good deed became the sixth, in the fourteen Stations of the Cross, that so many Christians 'live' through every Good Friday.

I am glad for a day each year, in the busyness of life, to stop and ponder her action, that overflowed from a compassionate heart. Oh, that my heart be so full of overflowing love ...