The Power of Art
It’s not uncommon to hear that a work of art changed a person’s life. In The Return of the Prodigal Son, Henri J.M. Nouwen, one of the great 20th century Christian writers, describes his encounter with Rembrandt’s painting of the same name. Nouwen first sees the painting in a colleagues office when he is exhausted after lecturing in US churches about preventing war and violence in Central America. Over the next few years he ruminates on its meaning as he leaves his teaching post at Harvard and begins working at Daybreak, a home for the mentally handicapped. Nouwen opens the book: “A seemingly insignificant encounter with a poster presenting a detail of Rembrandt’s “The Return of the Prodigal Son” set in motion a long spiritual adventure that brought me to a new understanding of my vocation and offered me new strength to live it.” Talk about life altering, it almost makes me afraid to visit a museum.
Nouwen divides his book into three primary sections which follow the primary players in the prodigal son parable: the younger son, the elder son, the father. In each section, he analyzes that character in the painting, in Rembrandt’s life, and in Nouwen’s spiritual journey. Read the rest of this entry »
Calling all Bodhisattvas: enlightenment by the multiple armload awaitsyou at 
Claire
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