Description
Imagining the Lectionary: opened up to the light of love (Lent 4B)
Reflection accompanying image “The inner workings of a pocket watch”
The pocket watch in the photograph belonged to my paternal grandfather, Henry. Together with a few of his handtools it is one of the very few possessions of his which I have to remind me of him. I have no idea whether it was in his uniform pocket when he was a machine gunner in the trenches of the first world war, firing day after day at the advancing lines of German infantry and at their fixed positions in the mud. I don't know whether he had it with with him when he was shot - twice - or when his hospital ship was torpedoed. Perhaps it was in Henry's pocket when he married my grandmother, and if so what did he feel when he realised that she was still in love with Joe, her husband of six weeks who had been killed on the first day of the Somme offensive, and that she was never going to come to terms with his death His absent presence was the third person in their marriage.
And it seems certain that this gold watch was in my grandfather's pocket every time he used to beat my father up, until the day when his sixteen year old son, an only child, hit him back and the physical violence stopped. And I think he had it with him when he had the first of the series of strokes which would eventually take his life.
Continues...
Bible text in this reflection is used by permission from:
Reflection accompanying image “The inner workings of a pocket watch”
The pocket watch in the photograph belonged to my paternal grandfather, Henry. Together with a few of his handtools it is one of the very few possessions of his which I have to remind me of him. I have no idea whether it was in his uniform pocket when he was a machine gunner in the trenches of the first world war, firing day after day at the advancing lines of German infantry and at their fixed positions in the mud. I don't know whether he had it with with him when he was shot - twice - or when his hospital ship was torpedoed. Perhaps it was in Henry's pocket when he married my grandmother, and if so what did he feel when he realised that she was still in love with Joe, her husband of six weeks who had been killed on the first day of the Somme offensive, and that she was never going to come to terms with his death His absent presence was the third person in their marriage.
And it seems certain that this gold watch was in my grandfather's pocket every time he used to beat my father up, until the day when his sixteen year old son, an only child, hit him back and the physical violence stopped. And I think he had it with him when he had the first of the series of strokes which would eventually take his life.
Continues...
Bible text in this reflection is used by permission from:
THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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