“Abraham and the Three Angels” by Marc Chagall | 1966

Three Jews, connected by heritage, separated by history, linked by their responses to a radical call…to trust, to rely on their Lord.

Abraham left his family, his culture not knowing his destination and look what happened…

Marc Chagall | “Abraham and the Three Angels”

Vincent van Gogh | “Starry Night over the Rhõne”

“I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky”.  Genesis 26:4

Thomas aka “Doubting Thomas” saw and believed.

Caravaggio | “The Incredulity of Saint Thomas”

Even though it must be more than 50 years ago, I can never forget staying with a group of Mar Thoma sisters in Kerala, India  sharing their Ashram life.

Mar Thoma is Aramaic for Saint Thomas and they traced their origins back to the time he landed on the coast of  Kerala, bringing the resurrection message.

Bert Gerresheim | Edith Stein

Bert Gerresheim | Footsteps and Shoes, Auschwitz

In the EL DE Haus, Köln, an imposing stone building around the corner from this sculpture rising from the pavement, I discovered how my parents perished. They were gassed in Chelmno, Poland.

On that day of revelation I stood silently before the sculpture, comforted by the life of Edith Stein. 

And today, on the eve of Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) I read the words she said to her sister, and overheard by the neighbors, in Echt, Holland, on August 2, 1942 as they were being deported.

“Come Rosa, we go for our people”.

Edith and Rosa were gassed in Auschwitz on 

August 8 – 9, 1942.

And I sit in the present darkness,

Embracing my heroes,

Treasuring my family heritage,

“Looking forward to the city with foundations.

Whose architect and builder is God”. (Hebrews 11:10)