Latest News
Kitchen Chat and more…
International Newsletter Advent 2013
This newsletter is password protected; the password is, advent.
[download id=”119″]
Making Peace with Destiny – New Year’s Thoughts
Angel Holding an Olive Branch; by Hans Memling, ca. 1475-1480
What will the future bring?
This is a question that comes naturally at the beginning of a new year. This angel present an olive branch, a symbol of peace. Noah on the ark received such a branch from a dove, indicating the presence of land, giving him hope that humanity can start anew. Olive trees cannot bear nourishing fruit if they are not intensely cultivated by human beings. So Noah also received a task with this sign.Whatever the future brings comes from the divine realm. Behind every challenge, joy and surprise stands an angel, entrusting us with an opportunity to make this earth a better place and to start anew.
Darkness and the Nativity: a Contemplation
Many of the inner pictures connected with the birth of Christ, with the Nativity that we carry in our imaginations, place the light filled holy family into a protective sheath of surrounding darkness. We can think of Rembrandt’s Nativity, or of Ninetta Sombart’s Birth of Christ and sense the sheltering quality that the darkness lends to the holy event of his birth. The Christ Child is received into the blanket of night and, in equal measure the darkness of night has a role to play in the events surrounding Christ’s birth.
We can thus begin to distinguish between different qualities of darkness. Read more