Benediction

Behind The Art

I was at the airport to pick up a friend whose flight had been delayed. Waiting, I became gradually aware of the people around me. The scene was so familiar, almost universal. There was sporadic small talk and the usual sense of tedium combined with hints of anxiety as other flights, too, seemed to be more or less behind schedule. Intermittently, arrivals were announced over the public-address system. Talk halted as eyes expectantly scanned the incoming throng.

Then something wonderful happened. A woman with an infant in her arms caught sight of her husband. He saw her. It might have been safer to walk through a laser beam than through their gaze. A man saw a perhaps long-lost brother. Children were reunited with their parents. In each instance, as they moved toward one another, arms outstretched, I saw the change, the transfiguration, the light on their faces. (Would they need veils like the one Moses wore after meeting the Lord on Mount Sinai?) What I felt was an intimation of the great tenderness in this blessing given to Aaron for the children of Israel.

—Michael