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This week, a lovely client of ours reached out in the hopes that we would be able to create a St Veronica-themed gift box for her mom's 70th birthday. We quickly realised that there is almost NOTHING available in the Christian world related to St Veronica and we would have to get creative.
So for the past week, we've been reflecting on St Veronica quite closely. Simultaneously, this past week has been a very tumultuous one throughout the world. From protests in Nepal to a political crisis in Thailand, a crisis in the DRC, the ongoing war in Gaza and the Middle East, another in Sudan, the assassination of a young and controversial Christian activist in the US and another assassination of a lawyer on our own doorstep in Johannesburg - the world is clearly in turmoil and the internet reflects and magnifies a soul-deep sadness and imbalance that many of us are currently feeling.
While all of these events and the many more tragic ones that are happening across the world have left me saddened and often outraged - there was one specific event this week that left me more shaken than I expected. Footage erupted across my news feed of a young woman being brutally murdered on a bus-ride home and while horrible in its own right - it's arguably no more terrible than the murders we see en masse on the news each night, or even in our own backyard across South Africa each day. But what struck me was how this young woman was left on the floor by onlookers. Nobody stood up to help. Nobody tried to stop the bleeding. And worst of all - nobody even sat with her, holding her hand in her worst moments. An unfortunate reminder of similar tragedies that happen all the time since the beginning of time.
It was such a blessing that this St Veronica request came into our inbox this week because I was able to sit with her throughout it all and learn more about this often forgotten quiet figure who is never even mentioned in the Bible.
We don't know much about St Veronica but we know something important. When it mattered most - she stood up and took a step. In a crowd of hundreds praising the brutal death of an innocent man, she took a risk when nobody else was willing. She showed Him a tiny piece of humanity during humanity's worst moments.
So after a difficult week during which many of us have been left shaken - the challenge is clear. Let us be St Veronica. Let us show compassion where compassion is lacking. Let us show love where love is absent. Let us show Christ where He is most needed.
As always, we're praying for you and praying for our world.
Xxx
Some other products we love to help us through a difficult week <3
A World Undone - Finding God When Life Doesn't Make Sense