The Child Madonna, Chapter 39 "Finale or a Beginning"

I look into your eyes. The smile, the depth, the love is there. We communicate.

I have chosen you.

I have chosen well.

From the mouths of babes and sucklings, they shall know the truth. Mari, you are a child and you have seen the truth and acted on it. You may be vulnerable, but you are inviolate as well.

In this moment you are perfect.

Can this perfection survive the growing process? Will you always communicate thus with me, or will you have some secrets from my gaze?

What will you tell me when I’m old enough to ask? Will you share your doubts and fears, your pain, the lash of whip and dread of brutal death? Will you strengthen me with this, or leave me to discover everything anew, in isolation, for myself - not wanting to hurt me or trigger my doubts, when such intimate sharing would have the opposite effect?

Will you let me be controlled by God, or seek to mould me round your own ideas of
him? You defied your mentor, Eli; will you give me the same freedom?

Give me true love, daughter of Zion, virgin, mother, prophetess, Queen of Heaven. Let me find my Father; don’t hide him from me. Let me share your tragedy and guilt, weep over Rachel’s children with you. Talk to me, mother, sing to me, touch me, let me see the flicker of pain behind your smiling eyes.

For the moment I can only gurgle and seek your tender nipple with my relentless tiny mouth. Treasure this moment shared together, mother, Child Madonna.

Soon, the world outside will demand its say.

Madonna and Child.

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Author’s Note:
As I was deliberating with the publisher over the design of the cover for the hardback to be published by Melrose Books I came across a photo that seemed to me ideal - then I realised that I would not dare use it for fear of the repercussions, even today, for a young Afghan girl whose portrait could be used for a Christian story.

“Mother and Child” - photo by Carlos Reyes-Manzo

I saw this photo which was part of an exhibition of photos displayed to support Amnesty’s ‘Stop Violence against Women’ campaign, at their Annual General Meeting in April 2006 at Warwick University. Apart from the simple caption, the words of the photographer were recorded as:

“I went along with a doctor who was visiting a small and remote village in a very traditional part of Afghanistan. The doctor was checking the health of the children. Looking at this picture, there is uncertainty as to who is the child. The girl is about thirteen. Girls as young as nine marry. She is both mother and child; her husband, of course, is much older than her.”

When I saw this photo, I knew immediately that this was my image of the Madonna and Child. And three modern Magi were a doctor, photographer and author.