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May
2008
Ruth's
Ramblings
 Gerald
and I have just returned from a week’s holiday in Italy. We stayed in the
beautiful city of Florence. It was Gerald’s first visit to Italy but I had
been in Florence almost 30 years ago when I did a whistle stop tour of
Rome Florence and Venice. Many of the churches and galleries in Florence are
filled with beautiful works of art and from my previous visit a series of
particular sculptures carved by Michelangelo had stayed in my memory. I am not
speaking of the full sculpted statues wonderful as they are, but those statutes
that can be found at the Galleria Dell’Accademia which are “unfinished”
works of art called Slaves. When I looked at them, I was impressed by their
appearance, for it is as if the statutes were already contained within, and they
are merely waiting for the opportunity to be revealed as the layers of marble
appear to be peeled away. I visited the said gallery this time around, a little
fearful that the marble effigies might not be as I had remembered. I was not
disappointed for once again this unfinished works of art moved me to tears.
Scholars who know about such things claim that perhaps the works were not
completed because Michelangelo found a flaw in the marble which made completion
difficult.
Whilst
thinking about the statues it caused me to ponder on our human lives and how at
times we are flawed and yet God unlike Michelangelo and his works of art, does
not give up on us.
On
May 11th we will be celebrating Pentecost and be reminded of the time that the
Holy Spirit transformed the lives of those gathered. In a poetic sense one could
claim that God or the Holy Spirit, like Michelangelo, enables us to reveal those
hidden works of art which we can become but only if we allow the power of the
Holy Spirit to “chip” away at our “marble surrounds” that trap us, then
and only then we will become more Christ like and beautiful.
Until
next month,
Blessings,
Ruth
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