Tear Down This Wall
Message for Lent
“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility.” Ephesians 2:13–14
In the Book Pilgrim Road by Albert Holtz, O.S.B. Father Holtz takes his readers through a Benedictine journey through Lent.
On Friday of the first week of Lent he tells about his visit to Berlin, Germany. He recounts some of its relevant history connecting Berlin to the twentieth century. He comments that Berlin saw herself cut into two parts by a wall that separated the Communist bloc from the free world of the West.
This dividing wall was begun August 13th, 1961 and was torn down November 9th, 1989. Dates I remember well. There is still a remnant of this ugly wall that separated East and West Berlin.
Father Holtz comments that even today when you cross into the former East Berlin there is such a contrast between it and the West. He said it was like when a color movie turns black and white all of a sudden. He wrote about the buildings being faceless and the whole area evoked a dismal mood of lifelessness and oppression.
He writes, “One of the great tragedies of the dividing of Berlin…was that relatives…suddenly found themselves on opposite…
