Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Louis TemplemanMarch 29, 2010

He has not much time, maybe minutes.
Maybe minutes.
Yet he catches her eye. She sees
the sweat, blood and pus making
tracks in the dirt on his face.
Hers were the first eyes he entered
and now will be his last.
Against rough wood and iron spikes
he shifts up his flesh for air to speak.
She holds her breath to catch
his words, “Woman.”
His beaten aching body—swaddled in blood—
breathes, “Woman
behold your son.”
She watches as he shifts his eyes
to the young man whose strong arms
steady her. “Behold your mother.”
Her knees weaken, but her weight
is secured in the young man’s strength.
In her memory echoes a “yes”
as present and eternal as
the blood that stains her hands,
her face, her clothing.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
Elizabeth MacAdams
15 years 3 months ago

Louis,


You have captured the essence of Good Friday!


God bless you and let him continue to speak through your words!


Liz

The latest from america

What is happening to migrants in courtrooms across the country is a complete embarrassment to the justice system and an affront to human dignity.
Being a kid in the summer is all about existing in an eternal present moment, a feeling of freedom and potential that it will never go away.
John DoughertyJuly 11, 2025
Father Thomas Hennen, vicar general of the Diocese of Davenport, Iowa, has been appointed Bishop of Baker, Oregon.
OSV NewsJuly 11, 2025
My writing during these past five years is filled with memories of my long journey with God over a lifetime; but very significantly, it is the expression of my prayer at this later time of my life.