Notes from Esther de Waal's opening talk at the Henri Nouwen Society's 'Way of the Heart Conference' - June 10, 2016.
Her comments were based on Nouwen's book 'The Return of the Prodigal', which in turn were his reflections on Rembrandt's masterpiece.
- We are even more lost
- Coming home and staying there, where true love is to be found
- It is the gift that we are to lay claim to
- Where do you dwell?
- Christ's answer is 'come and see.'
- How does Henri go beyond his deep searching?
- The new monasticism - to keep the still centre in our lives
- If you are looking for theology in Wales, look for the poets
- The visual was very important for Henri
- When I am too tired to read, to tired to do or to pray, I can still look at art
- Looking at a painting with my heart's eye
- Quite deliberate steps - battered by mission and vision statements
- The need to look with long and prayerful attention
- The need to enter into art
- June 19, 1983 - Henri first encounters the Return of the Prodigal
- Just completed a 6 month tour of the US, overwhelmed by his own neediness
- In July 26, 1986 he goes to St. Peterburg's to see the painting
- It is a huge painting 6 feet by 8 feet
- He sees the feet of the prodigal
- Luther called the parable the gospel within the gospel
- Picasso drew a painting of the prodigal before he comes home
- Illusion - to play with words
- The story of the prodigal are the root of the 3 Benedictine rules
- Listening quietly, listening intently
- To change, to move forward,
- To come home, staying in the loving embrace of the father
- We are lost, we have lost the key to our heart, profound and inescapable journey
- Henri sat for hours in front of the painting in the Hermitage, there day after day
- The feet - the bare feet which has experienced the harshness of the earth
- The duality of the two hands
- One hand tender and the other strong, two diverse voices both speaking the words of truth
- Eyes that go into our innermost self, one so compassionate
- Neither of those eyes were judging looks
- How do you see?
- You can glance, you can look but only for what you want to see
- Look, stay still, gaze into the innermost being of your subject
- Holding himself still before the haze of God; that gaze without judgment, and this the gaze we are to look with at others
- It means you see Easter in the other
- You forget the labels, you gaze with the eyes of the resurrection
- The eyes of the elder son, are the eyes of judgment, frozen anger, resentment - he has worked hard and has done everything expected of him
- Look at him leaning on his staff, fashionable head gear, very, very scary
- Contrary to the generous master who invites labourers to come and be pay regardless of how long they work
- Figures are frozen in time
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| 15th Century 'Holy Trinity' (Troiksa) Icon by St. Andrei Rublev |
- 15th Century icon - 3 people sitting in a circle
- They are all relating
- Feet happily on the ground
- The cup among them - the cup of suffering
- The unity of the trinity bring relief to the suffering of the Russian people
- Holding things together
- The box holding the bones of the Martyrs
- We are drawn in to that table, that circle of
- Love, the hands united pointing to the cup
- They can listen to one another, it is a circle of love that we are being called to
- Can't tell who is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - the deep communion among the free
- The listening eyes, the gift of the gaze
- The prodigal can't remain kneeling forever
- His heart has been pierced by the love of his father, you are re-energized, full of love to express itself in love and action
- The need to revisit his forgiveness
- Forgiveness is the greatest gift for freedom and healing
- Being the beloved - are you going to receive it?
- The way you look at someone can transform them
- Can you see the resurrected person? Isn't this the gift of L'Arche, this household of love?
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