Jesus, a name precious beyond words!

I like these closing words of the author James Carroll from his article, 'Jesus and the Modern Man,' in the New York Times, November 9th 2014. My photo of a Rafael, 'Transfiguration,' in the Vatican's 'Pinacoteca,' was taken this Spring. 

                          "... the centrality of Jesus can restore a long-lost simplicity of faith, which makes Catholic identity - or the faith of any other church - only a means to a larger communion not just with fellow Jesus people, but with humans everywhere. All dogmas, ordinances and accretions of tradition must be measured against the example of the man who, acting wholly as a son of Israel, eschewed power, exuded kindness, pointed to one whom he called Father, and invited those bent over in the shadowy back to come forward to his table. It was the table, I suddenly recall, that brought me here in the first place. The lights come up, the people arrive, and I stand."

In the midst of controversy and conflict, we Catholics may sometimes forget the centrality of our faith lies in that single individual whom we love. Jesus, a name precious beyond words!