And to the music and to the spoken and written word may be added the visual tribute of faith that is the magnificent twelfth-century mosaic in the Basilica of San Clemente in Rome. It represents the cross as the Tree of Life from which flow the streams of living water for which the hart longs, from which the tendrils of a vine grow out to encompass all of human life. Here is the Basilicas website.

sClem-Mosaic1

sClem-Mosaic2

Rev. Joseph A. Komonchak, professor emeritus of the School of Theology and Religious Studies at the Catholic University of America, is a retired priest of the Archdiocese of New York.

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