Once a student of literature, Pope John II wrote The Jeweler's Shop to discuss the meaning of love. In this play, the action takes place in two settings at once: a street in a small town, outside the local jeweler's shop (people go to buy their wedding rings there), and the mysterious inner landscape of personal hopes and fears, loves and longings. Each act focuses on a different couple: the first happily planning their wedding, the second long-married and unhappy, the third about to marry but full of doubts. The Pope addresses such fundamental human concerns as: What does it mean to fall in love? When do we know that a love is real - and can it last? If it dies, how do we go on living and loving again? There are no easy answers, and there is no happy ending; such is the nature of men and women, and such is the nature of love; but there is hope, if we only acknowledge our need and accept the risks of a deep and lasting commitment. |
