On a more serious note. I always thought that if I was ever going to get a tattoo of Mary with Jesus that I would base the Mary on Orphan Girl at the Cemetery by Eugène Delacroix (c. 1823 or 1824). How beautiful it is. The puffy white faces of the classic madonnas just don't capture how you'd picture the young Jewess.
Although in reality I don't think I'll get Mary tattooed on me. I'm considering working in Italy with the youth and would not want them to mistake me for someone who prays to her like many Italians do. What is just a nice image for me might be a stumbling block to those who live among idols. My St. Christopher chain might need to go too if I begin work there. This is okay though, they are unimportant things in the bigger picture. Paul gives the exhortation to "make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister" (Romans 14:13). I may be free to eat pork but maybe I wouldn't around Jewish believers, free to wear saints but not if offending others, just as any man is free to drink beer but might not around a recovering alcoholic. Sensitivity to our brothers and sisters is more Christian a virture in these cases than having all the right ideas.
A student in Genova with a sarcastic sign saying "Less Jesus, More Mary."
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