The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales have designated 2020 as ‘The God Who Speaks’: A Year of the Word to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Verbum Domini – Pope Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Exhortation on ‘The Word of the Lord’, and the 1600th anniversary of death of St Jerome, who translated the Bible into Latin.
Therefore, 2020 will be a year of celebrating, living and sharing God’s word, through a range of events, activities and resources, across the Diocese of Westminster.
At the beginning of Advent we have a great sense of anticipation, we are waiting and watching, praying and reflecting. It is good to be reminded at the start of this year’s season of precisely why we are doing these things – the journeying within our hearts, within our homes and within our churches. Journeying to the destination that is the Christ-child.
This week in school , to help us with our Advent reflections, we thought about the message of Sunday’s Gospel, Matthew 24:37-44 and Key Stage 2 pupils also watched a video by Cardinal Vincent Nichols – looking to deepen our faith and our love of Scripture.
At the launch of the Year of The Word we started with St Jerome – a very important saint and Biblical scholar – looking at a painting by Italian Renaissance artist Masaccio, titled ‘Saints Jerome and John the Baptist’. Now, as we move into a new year in the life of the Church, we have a second film to mark the start of Advent.
‘The Nativity at Night’ by Dutch artist, Geertgen tot Sint Jans which means ‘Little Gerard of Saint John’, is a tender scene in which the darkness is illuminated by Jesus in the manger: the golden glow around his body lights up an array of adoring angels, each with individual hand gestures as if they’re all marvelling at different insights that have aroused their senses. It is a believer’s Nativity, whose palette is prayer. It is a mystic attempt to imagine that unique holy night.
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Why not enrich your spiritual journey further by visiting the National Gallery in person or online and discover just how many paintings focus on the Bible and Bible stories?