healingwords: poetry for the soul

I was shocked yesterday to read of the damage done to one of the angel windows at Coventry Cathedral. A pane of the West Screen depicting the Angel of the Eternal Gospel was broken in an attempted burglary and the Cathedral is raising funds to repair the damage or if necessary, replace the pane.  The West Screen at the Cathedral entrance is a magnificent wall of glass designed by John Hutton and engraved with 66 figures of saints and angels. It is hauntingly beautiful, even more so when looked at from the steps of the old Cathedral when the ruins of the old are reflected on the saints and angels of the new building. Coventry Cathedral was raised out of the ruins of the St Michael's Cathedral bombed during the blitz on November 14th 1940. From its inception it was conceived as a project of forgiveness and for many years it has been a place of worship, peace and conciliation between peoples and faiths. In a time where peace feels threatened and the world a more dangerous pl...

When I return to my hometown of Coventry I always visit the Cathedral. I find it uplifting, a beautiful building celebrating peace, rising from the ashes of the bombed out St Michael's Cathedral, its ruins reflected in the magnificent glass wall of Angels and Saints. I always pause to gaze in awe at Epstein's St Michael and the Devil, illustrated here in a photograph by Chris Knight.  ST MICHAEL AND THE DEVIL Blessed Archangel, holy Saint, I have come to know you  as Michael,  a little  casual for a mighty warrior,  protector of all  who call  your name,  wrapping your winged cloak around unguarded human frames.  I find you in hidden churches, stood in silent Spanish squares, shining down through rubied glass, in roadside crypts garlanded with faded plastic roses, on a bedside postcard of  Epstein’s vision. Michael in victory, speared  warrior,  proud browed, a mo...