The painting above of Veronica wiping the face of Jesus was done recently by Duk Soon Fwang, an artist whom I have always admired. I asked her the other day what inspired her to paint it.
She told me she liked Veronica, the woman who shoved her way through the crowd, braved the Roman soldiers, took off her head covering and gave it to Jesus to wipe his face, on the way to his death. What courage she had!
Duk Soon wanted to capture the moment when Jesus responded as her hand reached out to him. Some picture his face imprinted on her veil, she said, but she wanted to see his face as he looked at Veronica.
It’s not important what Jesus looks like, Duk Soon continued, it’s what he did that counts, but she found she could not paint his face as a white man, as most western artists do. To her his face is the face of a hardworking Mexican immigrant.
She couldn’t paint his eyes, at first, but then she painted them. Jesus sees the woman who wiped his face. “I was in need and you reached out to me.”
Artists have their way of exploring the mysteries of God.
I’m interested in the gospel accounts of the Passion of Jesus. How did they come about? Some want to see them only as factual accounts of what happened then. Indeed, this isn’t a made up story; Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate.
But the story of Veronica, though it didn’t make it into the gospels, is a reminder there were other influences behind the gospels. There were eyewitnesses to the Passion of Jesus; scribes who wrote their stories, apologists who made a point from it, thinkers who saw God’s great designs in it. There were also mystics, artists and ordinary people who saw the human story in the story of Jesus.
There had to be a Veronica.
The Victor's Place 
Telling the story of the Passion is a gift granted to many writers and artists and preachers. You’d enjoy the book, “Walk with Jesus” by Henri Nouwen, currently being discussed in the Nouwen Book group. The paintings by Sister Helen David preceded each Station of the Cross. They portray meaningful connections to Jesus’ Passion.
See http://wp.henrinouwen.org/
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Thanks so much for the suggestion. Artist, poets, mystics are important today.
Fr.Victor
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Dear Fr. Victor, I spent several hours thinking about the last words of your reflection on Veronica
and on Duk Soon Fwang’s painting about Veronica’s meeting Jesus on his way to the cross.
I believe that Veronica saw the face of Jesus, as it was, before she pressed her veil to his face.
There Had To Be Veronica
The inquisition,
the scourging,
the beating,
the stripping of his garments,
the mockery of the purple robe,
the piercing pain of the crown
forced onto head.
The cobblestone road,
torture on his bare feet,
the beam across his shoulders,
carried with his arms folded over it
from back to front,
sheer agony for his bones and muscles,
the sweat and blood
running from his head wounds
blinding his eyes.
The woman who stepped out,
against the screaming crowd
of jeering and weeping humanity,
removed her veil and raised it toward
his suffering face,
only her hand revealing her courage,
her compassion,
her love.
Gloria Ziemienski
March 2019
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