By Lois Rogers | Correspondent
When my brother Mark took brush in hand to paint Mother Teresa’s portrait nearly 20 years ago, he couldn’t bring himself to model the portrait of the woman already known as “The Saint of the Gutters” after countless images of her wreathed in smiles.
At a time in his own life when he was dealing with the news that our mother had been stricken with ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease), Mom’s shattered visage made him mindful of Mother Teresa’s perspective on human suffering.
“I see Jesus in every human being,” Mother Teresa had said. “I say to myself, this is hungry Jesus, I must feed him. This is sick Jesus. This one has leprosy or gangrene; I must wash him and tend to him. I serve because I love Jesus.”
The quote came up in a conversation at the time. Actually, I had asked Mark why he didn’t paint Mother Teresa with her famous smile. Mark said his intention with the painting was to convey the emotions she must certainly suffer spiritually as she encountered Jesus in all his forms hundreds of times a day.
I came to appreciate the painting for what it conveyed.
There is strength in the face he painted, drawing from a photograph taken in her middle years. There is determination in the eyes and love that can only be born of great sorrow. It’s a beautiful face, strong, faithful and determined to live as Jesus would have her live and serve as he asked her to serve. It is a face that inspires us to join her in this quest.
This portrait and one of St. John Paul II were the only religious works Mark, a noted science fiction and fantasy artist, ever painted. He created them at the behest of our good friend Joseph Serrada and myself. We hoped they would be the first of religious portraits and pictures Mark would paint for a small publishing house we started called Kolbe Press.
As it turned out, that was not to be.
When The Monitor acquired both paintings in the late ‘90s, we were happy to give them a good home, especially since Mark’s untimely death in 2012. It’s been very meaningful all these years to know that they were valued and safely kept, and we’re ever so grateful that The Monitor has placed Mark’s vision of Mother Teresa on the cover of this special tribute.
Lois Rogers, retired features editor of The Monitor, continues as a freelance writer. In addition to his sister, Mark Rogers is survived by his wife, Katherin, four children and three grandchildren.