Parting.ALL LOVE, WHETHER OF CHILD, parent, partner, friend, even of place, possession, or animal, holds the potential for suffering, because of death. We cannot possess or hold fast to anything or anyone: It is all gift. Life contains inevitable partings and inescapable pain. The loveless are protected against this suffering: The zombie A computer that has been covertly taken over in order to perform some nefarious task. It is estimated that millions of PCs around the world have been compromised and, under the control of a third party, routinely transmit messages unbeknownst to the user. feels nothing. We are alive in proportion to our response to love, and our pain at parting is in proportion to the extent of that love. Altdorfer's leave-taking is a wonderfully unsentimental depiction of what it means to say good-bye. He glorifies none of his characters: Mary has enormous feet, thrust almost violently upon the viewer's attention. Christ and his disciples are ready to move out into a world of possibilities; his mother and her companion women must stay, imprisoned im·pris·on tr.v. im·pris·oned, im·pris·on·ing, im·pris·ons To put in or as if in prison; confine. [Middle English emprisonen, from Old French emprisoner : en- in the decay of their old environment. For them, the sun is setting: Christ is aware of it, compassionate yet still resolute. It is his vocation to go, and though his mother grieves, so it has to be. The deeper the love, the deeper its pain. By SISTER WENDY BECKETT Sister Wendy Beckett (born February 25 1930) is a South African-born British art expert, consecrated virgin and contemplative hermit who became an unlikely celebrity during the 1990s, presenting a series of acclaimed art history documentaries for the BBC. of Norfolk, England, well-known for her BBC BBC in full British Broadcasting Corp. Publicly financed broadcasting system in Britain. A private company at its founding in 1922, it was replaced by a public corporation under royal charter in 1927. and PBS PBS in full Public Broadcasting Service Private, nonprofit U.S. corporation of public television stations. PBS provides its member stations, which are supported by public funds and private contributions rather than by commercials, with educational, cultural, television art series and her popular art books. Reprinted with permission from: Sister Wendy's Book of Meditations (DK Publishing, 1998; 888-342-5357). Painting: Christ Taking Leave of His Mother, c. 1520, Albrecht Altdorfer, National Gallery, London. |
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