Article March 5, 2007 ISSUE

Da Vinci had a hand in my stand for truth

MARY ELLEN EDWARDS

I sat in the National Gallery in London gazing with appreciation at Madonna and child with Saint Anne and Infant St. John the Baptist. The promise of joy and love that the baby Jesus brought to the world is so beautifully evident in this sketch by Leonardo da Vinci.

Then a curator came by with a study group, and I overhead him mention that years earlier, someone had shot this sketch with a gun. The picture had been almost fully restored, however. And as I sat there, it was clear and comforting to me that whatever the motivation behind such an act of vandalism, nothing could actually harm what Jesus represented—the Christ-idea of "God with us." From the attempts of Herod to kill the infant Jesus, to those of Judas Iscariot and Pontius Pilate to betray and crucify the Saviour, nothing could stop Jesus' mission to bring healing and salvation to the world.