Lift Up Your Head To Receive The Light

Caravaggio's 'The Calling Of St. Matthew' and reflections on a hard year

Every time I go to Rome, I try to stop by the church of St. Louis King Of France to see the Caravaggio painting “The Calling of St. Matthew” (above). It’s one of my favorites. There is Matthew, the tax collector, with his friends, counting the day’s receipts. In Matthew 9:9, we read, "Jesus saw a man named Matthew at his seat in the custom house, and sa…