Waterloo Bridge

Last October, seven famous paintings were stolen from a Rotterdam museum in a well-planned daytime heist .  Among them was Monet's painting, "Waterloo Bridge, London," painted in 1901.  The bridge was depicted in near darkness and haze and it has a dreamy appearance.

The three Romanian thieves who have been arrested were able to take the paintings to Bucharest, but authorities were not able to find the artwork.  Police had concentrated their search in a specific village in Romania of late and apparently that was what spurred one person to act.  In a new development in the case, the mother of the ringleader has confessed that she BURNED all seven in a wood oven.  Analysts have conducted tests of the ashes from the stove and have found nails, paint, staples, and tiny remnants of canvas.  Incredulous at first that such a thing would have been done, investigators are beginning to believe that this is, in fact, what happened.

The woman, Olga Dogaru, had placed the paintings in an abandoned house during one period of time, and then buried them in a cemetery.  Priceless paintings going from a place where preservation is of huge importance and then being taken almost out into the elements from what it sounds like is unbelievable.

In other cases of famous art gone missing, the one thing that usually trips up the thieves or makes it almost impossible for them to profit from the theft is that famous paintings are nearly impossible to sell.  Auction houses and galleries are already on high alert.  Selling to an individual with the kind of money they would ask is difficult, because how would you find an individual who could pay for the paintings and not tell anyone?

It seems as though Olga's job was to protect her son at all costs -- no matter what.  Picasso, Monet, Matisse, Gauguin, de Haan and Freud works were burned in a stove rather than having her son face the consequences.  It sure takes aiding and abetting to a new low.

"Thou shalt not steal," is a pretty plain way of telling us what we ought not do.  We are to EARN a living, not steal one.  We are to appreciate and be inspired by art, not make off with it. 

But Olga, by destroying the artwork, has committed a greater crime by far.  She took these works away from all of us in a sense.  By her actions she gives us a hint as to why her son became the kind of person that he did. 

Yet, no matter how vilified Olga becomes when the forensics are complete, Jesus died for Olga too.  If she asks forgiveness for her sins, she will be forgiven. 

My husband gets upset when blackbirds come into the yard in the waning months of summer and eat all of the birdseed, when he wants the cardinals, the chickadees, and the nuthatches, etc., to have it.  So he pounds on the window and disperses the flocks of undesirables, and two minutes later they are all back again.  I remember one day telling him, "Look, we feed the birds.  It's annoying but we can't discriminate as to which birds get the food.  We just feed the birds." 

It's like that with God's mercy.  It is extended to all, to the Olgas of the world as well as us.  We all fall short and need Divine Mercy.