This morning I finished the novel: The Muralist; by B.A. Shapiro. It is the story of a young Jewish artist, Alizée Benoit, whose family is caught in the clutches of the Nazis in France, where all her family dies at the hands of The Third Reich. The story is woven into the development of American Expressionistic painting of the time, and it is also woven into the shameful influence of Breckinridge Long, the State Department official in charge of U.S. visas. Long, an extreme nativist, manipulated U.S. State Department rules to stop Jewish refugees from Europe from getting visas to the U.S. The deaths of some 190,000 European Jews is attributed to Long's hateful blocking of visas for refugees. In light of Trump's blocking refugees entrance into the U.S., the book is a timely reminder that certain ancient evils circle back upon humanity again-and-again.
GOOD FRIDAY
GOOD FRIDAY. Early in the morning, Jesus is condemned to death by crucifixion. His disciple who betrayed him, Judas, hangs himself. At approximately 9:00 AM, Jesus is condemned. Jesus is brought to Pilate, who tries to avoid his death by using a custom to have one of two prisoners freed and the other punished. Pilate asks the people to choose between Jesus and a criminal who has committed awful crimes: Barabbas. The people of Jerusalem choose to free Barabbas and crucify Jesus. Pilate relents to the custom, although he states that he "finds no fault" in Jesus. Jesus, who has been whipped and is wearing a crown of thorns, is paraded through the streets carrying his cross. The route through which he is taken (The Via Dolorosa) leads to Golgotha, the "place of the skull," where hi is crucified at about noon. By 3:00 PM, Jesus is dead. By 6:00 PM, Jesus body is interred in a tomb in the garden of Joseph of Aramithea, who later flees Jerusalem to England to escape pe
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