Archives for March 2013

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 Father: Adult Lent group 4

Thursday 21 March 2013

Our fourth adult Lent group focused on the figure of the Father in the Prodigal Son. We began by looking carefully at Rembrandt’s painting, the focus for Henri Nouwen’s book. We noticed the difference in the two hands, showing the maternal and paternal nature of God’s love. There is a great love in the embrace […]

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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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The Elder Son: Family Lent Group 3.

Friday 15 March 2013

We began our third family session by talking about a scene from “The Lion King” when Mufasa confronts Scar. Scar is resentful because he has lost his place a heir to the throne with the birth of Simba. He will never be king now. Scar was like the elder son in the parable of the […]

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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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