The author Alexander McCall Smith writes with warmth and affection, but also with great insight into human beings and the way they live. At the end of Emma, a modern retelling of Jane Austen’s well-known comedy of manners published in 1815, he writes:
It had been an important summer for Emma, as it had been the summer during which moral insight came to her – something that may happen to all of us, if it happens at all, at very different stages of our lives. This had happened because she had been able to make that sudden imaginative leap that lies at the heart of our moral lives: the ability to see, even for a brief moment, the world as it is seen by the other person. It is this understanding that lies behind all kindness to others, to all attempts to ameliorate the situation of those who suffer, all those acts of charity by which we make our lives something more than the pursuit of the goals of the unruly ego. ( p. 358 )
About Scott Anderson
Formerly an Anglican priest (ordained 1975) I was received into the Catholic Church in February 2012, and ordained to the Diaconate on 27th July 2013 and on 29th October 2013 was ordained to the priesthood by the Archbishop of Southwark Peter Smith. After a spell in London (Precious Blood, Borough) I became parish priest of Pont Rémy in the Diocese of Amiens, northern France.
I am deeply committed to the Ordinariate as a gift of the Holy Spirit in the search for unity. Like many Ordinariate members I feel a personal gratitude to the late Pope Benedict, together with loyalty to our Holy Father, Pope Leo. My blog tries to make a small contribution to the growth of the Ordinariate by asking questions (and proposing some answers) about the 'Anglican Patrimony'.
I shall be ever grateful for the years in France, a wonderful ending to the years of parish ministry. Back in the UK I am attached, very happily, to the parish of Holy Trinity, Dorchester (HTD) and help out where needed in the Catholic parishes of South Dorset.
How would you apply this to the situation in Gaza?
When you have some Israelis who can understand, hard though it may be, what it is like to be a Palestinian – and when you have some Palestinians who understand what it is to be Jewish/Israeli then there might be a glimmer of hope for peace and even reconciliation.
Thank you for reminding me that Richard Holloway was Kelham formed. For many years I read and re-read ‘A New Heaven’ at the Holy Thursday Watch – and this year I did again. One of just a handful of books which I have here in France. Do you know his ‘Consecration’ address to the 1st Loughborough Conference; a long time ago but it has inspired me throughout my priesthood.