Читать книгу The Miracle of the Images - Welby Thomas Cox Jr. - Страница 3

In the history of mankind, there has never been a woman who has made a more indelible mark on the conscious of the world than Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Perhaps because she was born of human flesh, suffered the range of emotions which all of us feel: Love, hate, passion, neglect, need, pain, death...she more than any has felt the need to remain in touch with humanity throughout the past two thousand plus years. She appeared in person and through intermediaries, countless times at Fatima and Lourdes, to the most unlikely cast of characters to remind, that there is a greater tomorrow.

Once again, in 1942 Mary rewards an elderly childless couple living on a farm in rural Ohio. Every day throughout their marriage they have prayed the rosary asking Mary for a miracle...to send them a child. They believed that just as Mary's cousin Elizabeth, barren for many years, and now nearly three score, has been blessed by the power of the Holy Ghost to deliver the child to be called John that would pave the way for The Christ. They believed and prayed that this miracle would be shared with them as a vehicle for goodness.

The miracle comes to them in the form of a homeless, destitute, seriously ill immigrant Italian who has found her way to the United States illegally; searching for her husband whom she knows has fathered her four year old son. The old couple give the woman and child refuge from the storm but find the mother, too weak (from the perilous journey by sea in a freighter) to survive. The old couple, report the death to the authorities but they keep the child as a gift from God, calling him "Theodore".

Ted (aka, Aldo Selleri) is precious...a talented painter, which his adopted mother encourages...on August 15, 1955...Ted discovers that he is to be the instrument of the Blessed Lady in the form of a faceless image of the Holy Family. A messenger appears to Ted and tells him that the Holy Mother has requested that he paint a simple portrait of the Holy Family...and when he protest of his lack of skill...(as did Mary... "How is this possible since I have been with no man?") he was told not to be concerned with the images of the Holy Family. The Angel informs Ted that in fifty years (2005) the first miracle would occur revealing the precise imagine of Mary and Joseph. Thereafter in 2055 the face of the Christ would be revealed.

And so it was...Ted the painter, as Joseph the carpenter, applied the techniques of their craft...we are all aware of what happened to Joseph. This story contains a great deal of fiction to make it of interest... carries as well, a great deal of truth borne as fiction to give it legs. You the reader will have to determine what is real and what is not, to fit your imagination. Just as other great historically significant books have presented fact and fiction such as the "The DaVinci Code", the reader is entertained, educated and left for the thirst for another great novel.

But is this just a fictional novel, or has the author and painter become the unwitting accomplice in a divine message on the end of times... as the theologians contemplated the significance of the painting and its connection to the dates associated with the Book of Revelations...was the author inspired or where the dates associated with the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, the vision given Aldo Selleri in 1955 and partially fulfilled in 2005 with the promise that the painting of the divine family will be fully revealed in 2055.

Meet the cast of characters: the priest from the Vatican and the Holy Father; the parish priest at St. Augustine; the romance interest; the villainous lawyer; the maniacal killer; the housekeeper and her children; the farm hands; the ethical lawyers and prosecuting attorney; meet the bit players from waitresses, the Polizia, the Concierge, the book store clerk and other memorable characters who lend their character and give life to the book as it develops its own color and vigor.

The author has captured a drama of life and death, of love, hate, greed, of need, of remorse and reconciliation for life with truth, honesty, hard work and spirit of giving to others and the community at large.

We believe this is a very special book...it will make you smile, make you cringe with fear, make you wonder of all that you have known and been taught...it will make you glad that you took the time to come to know "The Miracle of the Images."