I am writing this reflection on Indigenous People Day, October 13, 2025, and find myself irresistibly pulled to the work of Diego Rivera (1886-1957). Diego Rivera was an artist for the poor and working class that sustained Mexico after the revolution. In many pieces, he portrays the humble calla vendors who struggled to carry glorious flowers they could never afford to the wealthy who could. The large bundles as here in The Flower Seller seem to outweigh the workers many fold and the shape of the bundles, though efficient for profit, seem punishingly awkward. Often pictured are the helpers who are necessary for rising to standing under this massive weight. Diego Rivera painted testaments to the labor and hardship and the contrasting community and mutual support of the people.

This neat and barefoot seller is the stuff of Rivera’s protest against income disparity and uneven struggle. These images can call us all to broad themes of social justice, to considerations of our own privilege, and even to questions about the flower industry of our day. Do you know of the damage to the hands of workers in the rose industry of South America?

We are grateful for the talented, compassionate and angry artists who through all of time have turned their gifts to pleas for others. May their work be an invitation to each of us to do what we can, where we are, with what we have. God be with us. Amen.

In gratitude, faith and hope,