For the last five years, I've been working on a book on the Raising of #Lazarus, today's beautiful Gospel reading from Jn 11, called "Come Forth." The book includes some images of Lazarus from art, as well as photos of current-day Bethany, Al Eizariya. The first is the oldest...
....known image of Lazarus, in the Giordani Catacombs, from the 4C.

Next is James Tissot's image, which depicts the current-day layout of the tomb with remarkable accuracy. Tissot spent months in the Holy Land in the late 19C trying to capture the landscape and peoples...
Here is an image from the "Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry," a 15C prayer book, which shows Lazarus crawling out of his marble tomb. As is the tradition, someone covers his face against the "stench" reported in today's Gospel....
Here is Lazarus, done in sepulchral tones, by Henry Ossawa Tanner, a 20C American artist perhaps best known for his depiction of The Annunciation...
And a much more modern version, with Willem Dafoe (as Jesus) embracing the newly raised Lazarus in Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ..."
Finally, two images from Al Eizariya, current-day Bethany, in Palestinian territory. The first an aerial view of the Church of St. Lazarus, near the Tomb...
And the entrance to the Tomb itself. (Photos of Al Eizariya Courtesy of Catholic Travel Centre.)
For more on the Raising of Lazarus (and more images) you might enjoy reading "Come Forth," which will be published in September. harpercollins.com/products/come-…

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More from @JamesMartinSJ

Mar 3
Today someone, perhaps inadvertently, attributed to me a quote from Cardinal McElroy that I tweeted out, after linking to his article. The response was a deluge of hateful tweets, DMs & spam on all my accounts: "sodomite," "fairy," f----t," "fornicator," "heretic," "apostate"...
Even after the original tweet was deleted later in the day, the hate and anger continued. And even though I've been on social media for years, I'm still amazed by the rage that people feel towards LGBTQ people (and sometimes me). Here's the thing: I have strong feelings...
...about different people in the church, some of whom I disagree with very strongly. But I would never use the kind of hate-filled language that people use online, or engage in vicious ad hominem attacks, much less threaten them with harm. It's just astonishing to me...
Read 10 tweets
Feb 10
Remarkable statement from the German Bishops Conference on LGBTQ people (1/27/23): "This year, the German Bishops' Conference is also focusing its commemoration on the queer victims of National Socialism, i.e. homosexual and bisexual people..."
"...as well as transgender and intersex people. The Auxiliary Bishop Ludger Schepers (Essen), who is responsible for LGBTQ* pastoral care from the Pastoral Commission of the German Bishops' Conference, explains:
"This day is an occasion for the Catholic Church to look at its own history of supporting homophobic behavior during National Socialism and afterwards to confess.” One’s own attitude contributed to the fact that homosexuals and other people with a queer identity were humiliated..
Read 6 tweets
Feb 2
Gospel: Today on the #Presentation of the Lord, we read about the Child Jesus being brought to the Temple and the utterances of Simeon and Anna (Lk 2). But at the end of the reading comes something important: the few lines about the "Hidden Life..."
"[T]hey returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him." Other than Jesus being found in the Temple at age 12, this is all that is written about his life before his public ministry...
So we know little about Jesus's life between his birth and 12, and then between age 12 to 30. What we do know is that he was a "tekton," like Joseph. A word that is variously translated as carpenter, craftsman, woodworker, construction worker or day laborer....
Read 5 tweets
Feb 1
Gospel: "Is this not the carpenter?" say the people in Nazareth, when they hear Jesus preach (Mk. 5). I.e., "Who him? The carpenter?" Jesus's occupation received so little respect that in Mt and Lk, written a few decades later, they say, "Is this not the son of the carpenter?"... Image
... thus transferring the occupation to Joseph. Jesus, like Joseph, was a "tekton," which can be translated as carpenter, craftsman, woodworker, construction worker or day laborer. He was not rich by any means, and perhaps had only a limited education. (Read John Meier's...
.."A Marginal Jew," Vol. 1, for more on his education.) But he was the Son of God, and it took time for people in Nazareth to grasp this. (In Lk, when he reveals himself as the Messiah, they try to kill him.) Be careful of overlooking God's presence in places (or people)...
Read 4 tweets
Jan 3
One of things I most appreciated about Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI were his writings, especially his encyclical "Deus Caritas Est" and his series of books "Jesus of Nazareth." Not only was he a brilliant theologian, but he could really *write*, and had a distinctively subtle...
...and lucid style. My three favorite quotes of his:

"Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction."

"Deus Caritas Est"
"Only when we meet the living God in Christ do we know what life is. We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary."

Inaugural Mass as Pope, 2005
Read 4 tweets
Jan 3
Notes for media friends covering Thursday's Funeral Mass for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Here are some common errors. First, and by far the most common mistake: a Mass is "celebrated" (not "done," "given" or "made"). Pope Francis will be the "celebrant" (or "presider," which is..
... slightly different, but an acceptable synonym.) The celebrant is not the "leader" or "chief priest." The Pope and the "concelebrants" (cardinals, bishops and priests celebrating with him) will be wearing "vestments" (not "robes"). Cardinals and bishops may wear a "miter"...
...(not a "hat" or "pointy hat"). The vestments will be an alb (a white garment), a stole over that (like a long scarf) and over it all a chasuble (a poncho-shaped overgarment). Priests wear this during every Mass, so they're not "in special robes" or "really dressed up today"...
Read 12 tweets

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