When Leonardo DaVinci was working on his masterpiece THE LAST SUPPER, he often used real people for the faces of the people in the painting. He was looking for a model for Christ and one day met a young man who was strikingly robust and handsome. His name was Pietro Baldinelli. DaVinci hired him to pose for the figure of Christ. It took DaVinci some years to finish the work, and one of the last figures he painted was that of Judas. He was looking for the appropriate model, someone with a ravaged and depraved visage. One day on the street he found the perfect person and hired him to sit for the painting. As he was painting him, the poor wretch looked somehow familiar and DaVinci asked if they had met before. The man answered, “Yes, I am Pietro and since I posed for Christ, I have given my life over to dissolution. The result you see sitting before you.” The evil he had done was displayed on his face. We see the truth of that in our own bodies. If we eat too much, drink too much, abuse drugs, or live with great anxiety or stress, our bodies and health overall are affected. The choices we make, the paths we pursue make us physically what our bodies become. But even more importantly, they make us the kind of persons we become. If we lie all the time, we become liars in our hearts and souls. If we cheat, or steal, or are unfaithful to a spouse, or are selfish and selfcentered, we create ourselves to be that sort of person. What we do and what we don’t do make us the kind of person we truly are. God sees even what others don’t see. The good news is that as long as we are in this world, God is willing to help us re-create ourselves. We can, with his help, re-paint the canvas, so to speak. So, who have you become, and is there anything you need to do about it
