11th October

The sheet

I regularly go to a small market where tissues are displayed. At this market the customer can buy one metre of white sheet for only 5 French francs. Imagine that in a few years a broken painter comes and buys a bit of this sheet to paint a picture... What will the value bee in a few years? In 1990 a sheet of Van Gogh, the portrait of Doctor Gachet, was sold in less than 3 minutes for 82.5 million dollars. However, it is only a bit of tissue with a little of painting!

Why is the difference between the cheap sheet and the painting so big? It is the spirit of an artist. Let us realize that God is the artist. He is our wise and mighty creator. In our original state we had little value "because we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another" (Titus 3, 3). However, the work which our Lord has done and still is doing for us gives us this great value with which he estimates us.

Don't let us despise God's work; it is not because I don't appreciate such a form of art that the paintings are worth less! God's work in my brother gives him a value which I always should try to distinguish without forgetting that "he is the brother for whom Christ died" (1 Corinthians 8, 11).