The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King

Ecce Homo

Caravaggio / 1573 – 1610
oil on canvas
1609 / Palazzo Rosso, Genoa

A note from the Editor:
I try to match the picture with the Sunday, and that with the reading given to us for that Sunday, at least as best I can given my limited knowledge of both art and theology. Today is the The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King. Christians honor Christ as Man and God, suffering servant and King. This Caravaggio represents the former more than the latter. But I am partial to Caravaggio. Note the staff of the shepherd, the "crown" of thorns, and the fact that all the faces are shadowed and His thin body centered and highlighted, visually representing the title.

Pilate is saying, "Behold the Man."

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First Reading

From the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel
Thus says the Lord GOD:
I myself will look after and tend my sheep.
As a shepherd tends his flock
when he finds himself among his scattered sheep,
so will I tend my sheep.
I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered
when it was cloudy and dark.
I myself will pasture my sheep;
I myself will give them rest, says the Lord GOD.
The lost I will seek out,
the strayed I will bring back,
the injured I will bind up,
the sick I will heal,
but the sleek and the strong I will destroy,
shepherding them rightly.
As for you, my sheep, says the Lord GOD,
I will judge between one sheep and another,
between rams and goats.

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Mass times in the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth: http://www.fwdioc.org
Picture from Art and the Bible: http://www.artbible.info/