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Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki |
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2015 | 2014 |
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With our hands – but with your strength
On the origin and spirituality of the works of charity, labour, education, and culture in Europe’s Benedictine monasteries.
Astonished at God’s creative power the ministry of the Benedictine monasteries emerged. He is the originator of everything that exists: He has created all things for man's happiness, calling on him to collaborate. It was the pervasiveness of this sense of awe – rather than some bustling activity – that led to the creation of a wide variety of works which have born unanticipated fruit.
Fifty plates are exhibited to show how the fruits of hospitality and nursing, of formal education and science, of manuscripts and music, of agriculture and craft could come into being as works of God. Furthermore, the exhibition poses questions on Europe’s spiritual identity and unity: How can we win them back? How can a civilisation of love emerge anew today?
“With our hands – but with your strength” (“Con le nostre mani, ma con la tua forza”) was put together by monks at the Benedictine monastery St. Peter and Paul in Cascinazza near Milan. It was shown for the first time in Italy in 2006, and since 2007 has been exhibited in a translated version in several German cities.
The exhibition offers well-illustrated stories and quotes related to the Rule of St. Benedict and personages such as St. Hildegard of Bingen, John Henry Newman, and Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI. The visitor is guided through six parts:
- Part I describes the works that have evolved from Benedictine life.
- Part II elaborates how, over a course of 1500 years, the Benedictines have brought new life to European civilisation displaying the esteem for the human person as well as the respect for democracy which have distinguished Europe to this day.
- Part III focuses on the spiritual roots of Benedictine life which brought forth such fecundity. The question arises as to their meaning for us today.
- In order to find an answer, part IV illustrates how, over the course of history, man has lost sight of the Christian contribution to our formation of the world.
- It was not until much later, part V continues, that individual persons and communities once again founded their lives on a communion with God and rediscovered the spirituality of these works.
- Finally, part VI shows how, even today, the Christian experience may enable man to discover himself and “to build a more human society that presents an adequate response to man’s desire”.
Witnesses to a presence
People who have given Europe a face
In this exhibition, ten plates evoke the memory of Europe’s patrons, and first and foremost that of St. Benedict. His motto “quaerere Deum” entailed a cultural prolificacy of such scope as to earn him the designation “Architect of Christian Europe” (Ratzinger). The saints Cyril and Methodius as well as St. Bridget of Sweden emphasize the spatial extension of European evangelisation. St. Teresa Benedicta a Cruce (Edith Stein) points to the reconciliatory power of faith against the backdrop of this continent’s most horrible tragedy in the past century. Appointing all these saints as Europe’s patrons, Pope John Paul II stressed the fact that Europe is in need of a soul in order to guarantee its spiritual cohesion.
The foundation for this soul consists in freedom and in defending the truth, which e.g. Thomas More once stood up for: Because of his uncompromising commitment to freedom of conscience he was appointed Patron of Statesmen and Politicians. Yet this soul is manifest also in the testimony of suffering of the blessed Karl Leisner, who from the days of his youth maintained an enthusiasm for Europe and who received his ordination in a concentration camp.
The political efficacy of this soul becomes apparent in the reflections of Robert Schumann, one of the EU’s founding fathers, as well as in the efforts of blessed Max Josef Metzger, who aimed for reconciliation and peace in Europe. Abbé Franz Stock’s life displays the power of personal testimony: He was a German prison chaplain in Paris who, through his life and works, laid the foundation for a possible reconciliation between arch enemies Germany and France as far back as in the WW II era.
The testimony of all these individuals elucidates the meaning of the Nuncio’s words at the European Council in July of 2009: “If we learn to recognize, in the peoples’ pain, the crucified God’s countenance, we will have the courage to live that love which the Crucified lived.”
This exhibition is an abridged and slightly modified version of the exhibition for the Year of Faith: Witnesses to a Presence.
Euromajdan – the people behind the headlines
Exposition of photos regarding the events in the Ukraine
The political events in the Ukraine move fast, the results are uncertain. At the Rhine-Meeting, we’d like to show the human factor behind the headlines of recent weeks.
Via newspaper articles, facebook postings and contacts with Ukrainians and on-site journalists, we were able to follow very closely how a nation is fighting with great readiness to make sacrifices for their freedom. Impressed by the reports, we want to let the people of Majdan speak for themselves. They testify that beyond all the unsolved political questions, small victories were won at 20 degrees below zero on the square, in the soup kitchens, medical wards, and in the prayer tent. Victories that changed the heart of many of these people.
Can we, business-oriented but numb Europeans, perceive that the Ukrainians are about to revitalise us?
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Programme 2014