May 19, 2005

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of giving a New York City tour to some of the families who were visiting for the ordinations. Another brother and I brought them to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As usual, we got some curious stares, especially since there were a number of elementary school groups there. Finally, I just decided to go with it and I stopped in the medieval section and pretended like I was on exhibit.

We wandered into the American section and the brother I was with showed me a breathtaking painting in the Hudson School section by Frederic Edwin Church entitled Heart of the Andes. It was of an incredible view of an Andean mountain with a tiny little pueblo at its foot complete with a Church and even a devotional cross with people praying by it. There was a group of 7-year-olds reflecting on the painting. When the instructor asked if anyone had any questions, a hand shot up and asked, "What is that cross in front, is it a funeral or something?" The whole room waited for an answer. The instructor only said, "I am just going to let the question sit there."

Is this true of our times? Instead of seizing the moment to give even a historical fact of our Christian past, we just give a typical post-modern response and let the question stay there. It is time to start answering the questions, and we have to be the ones to answer them.

Br. Agostino Miguel Torres, CFR
St. Leopold Friary, Yonkers, New York

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