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Two Pietas

Friday 29 March 2013

I was very cold by the time our walking tour group arrived at the Neue Wache. It has had various purposes but now houses  a sculpture by artist Kathe Kollwitz called “Mother with her dead son.” A woman, wearing simple clothes cradles her son’s lifeless body. Her face is partly hidden, his obscured by her […]

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Being faced with great evil.

Wednesday 27 March 2013

Just down from the Brandenburg Gate is the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. During one morning of my recent stay in Berlin, I visited the information centre, underneath the memorial. The first room gives an overview of the Nazi policy to exterminate Europe’s Jews. The accounts are chilling not just because they contain […]

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The Elder Son.

Saturday 16 March 2013

Here is the story used in our third Family Lent Group. It focuses on the son’s resentment and anger as well as the father’s loving reaction. Jesus told a story of two sons. The eldest son had been working all day in the hot sun. “This is my life,” he thought. “Work, work, work.” As […]

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A New Holy Father.

Thursday 14 March 2013

I’m not sure I have calmed down from the excitement of last night when Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was announced as the new pope, succeeding His Holiness, Benedict XVI. In the run up to the conclave all sorts of people used it to forward their own agendas. The media, last night and this morning hasn’t been short […]

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The Prodigal Son: Returning home.

Tuesday 12 March 2013

Here is the text of the story we used in the second Family Lent Group. Henri Nouwen, in the adults session had talked about the confusion the Son felt on his journey home, how difficult it was for him. We tried to get this sense over in the story. We told this in an active […]

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Lent Group – Session 2

Sunday 10 March 2013

Continuing with looking at Henri Nouwen’s book The Return of the Prodigal Son for our adult Lent group, for session 2 we listened to extracts from the chapter The Younger Son’s Return. In discussion we talked about Nouwen’s description of living towards a second innocence. It provides a way to go forward after we’ve experienced […]

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