ruah arts group

After some reflection on the Washington Arts Group Conference, I, John, have been contemplating the situation of the artist. Let is be known that the title of this entry is a quote I thought particularly striking from a talk given by Stratford Caldecott. He did an eloquent job drawing from Sacred Scripture and the book of Revelation in his talk entitled, “Liturgy, Trinity, and Time.”

Simply, as I see it, to be an artist is to remember or to recognize God and then to convey, through whatever medium (or media) the artist feels called, the most intimate encounter(s) with God as the human imagination will allow. For the Catholic believer (this is me), the Liturgy is nothing less than a sacred space/time event which, like a cosmic “white hole” draws all time, history, eternity into, truly, Himself (to put it lightly!).

Here, in this event/encounter, the artist draws the focal point of his memory: his remembering of who God is. Here, the Christian artist will encounter the deepest and greatest of all mysteries essential to good art: beauty, love, life, truth, goodness, and suffering. In case you don’t know, this is the Mass.

At the conference, many were called to truly reflect upon and clarify the notions they had of “liturgy.” Among the Christians drawing more heavily from the Catholic faith perspective, Liturgy emerged as the very heart and soul, the very inspiration, from which the artist would find his inspiration and orientation in the present day.

Now, as a way to understand the true beauty and power of this event/encounter and the new lived reality one finds with being in Christ Jesus in this way, one does well to contemplate under “The Celebration of the Christian Mystery” in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

“For it was from the side of Christ as he slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth ‘the wondrous sacrament of the whole Church.’ For this reason, the Church celebrates in the liturgy above all the Paschal mystery by which Christ accomplished the work of our salvation.” (CCC #1067)

As I continue to reflect more and more deeply upon how Liturgy may be the first-cause for all worthwhile artistic pursuits, it appears all the more evident that one must find through this sincere act of “oblation,” which Jesus showed on the Cross, the real identity of the Christian Artist (Jesus Christ being the most perfect Gift, Artist, and Offering). From this act of unspeakable love, the greatest inspiration has already appeared manifest in a multiplicity of forms over time and continues to steal our attention though not always made explicit.

Self-sacrifice in love for the other, helps us to truly see the Christian Artist (Jesus) at work in the evidence of Christian Art. Though how can a Christian artist sincerely hope to share in the sacrifice which the Lord Jesus offers to the Father for His bride, the Church, if he is unwilling to offer his own gifts, talents, and, to be sure, life, to his Lord or even his fellow man for the sake of God’s greater glory? Is, then, not the calling of the Christian artist, truly one of Divine inspiration and profound significance in our times? Is this path not one of true discipleship, un-knowing and self-abandonment to the Artist who is God? And so, if this be the case, the question arises, “In these days of static intellectualism and hollow materialism, how does the artist more fully enter into and prepare for formation as a ‘true Christian artist’?”

Some of us see the need for schools, institutions, and programs which foster, particularly, an interior life fitting to such a calling. Let me just say, I now hope and pray for artists and all those engaged in the arts to recognize this need and to work for the promotion of a new culture of the arts where, in the broader context, an “arts institution - artisan class” dialogue can form, and in the more narrow form, an “individual patron - individual artist” dialogue can deepen so as to display the universal fraternity found between Christian brethren who hope for and support the powerful message God is communicating through this most profoundly unitive work in the arts.

Perhaps for the Christian artist, a truly sacramental expression of life in Jesus Christ must be discovered more fully in the art of adoration and contemplation and from there, beauty will emerge. In any event, let us go forth with hearts filled with joy, to love, honor, and obey our Almighty Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.

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My husband and I just got back from the Christian Arts Conference in DC not too long ago. It was a breathless two days: twelve plenary speakers, thirty five breakout session leaders, dozens of artists and hundreds of participants. Though it was a smaller scale convocation–as conferences go–it was an intense couple of days. The title was “Jumping out of the Self-Referential Box,” and the inspiration was the Holy Trinity as our reference point for unity and diversity in a society of sameness. It was a brilliant, albeit lofty theme, but the schools of thought began to separate themselves fairly quickly. The burning question, although not directly broached, was one of liturgy. This question is of course rooted in ecclesiology. And what a bunch we had to tackle that topic! Ranging from “new paradigm” transdenominational Tony Jones of the Emergent Village (they dare not use “church”) to Evangelical Louis Markos (or was he Catholic–you be the judge) and Eric Metaxas to Orthodox Frederica Matthewes-Greene to the Catholic super-team of Tom Howard, Stratford Caldecott, Joseph Pearce, David Clayton, Gregory Wolfe and Fr. Basil Cole (and several others), the conversation was joyfully engaging at times, passive aggressive at other times and, in on at least one occasion quite aggressive. What fires! In the next week or two I’ll be posting on specific speakers and my takes on their talks. The fruit of the conference, and the point of the whole thing not only the static topic of liturgy in an academic sense, but the dynamic reality that, in fact, “The fine arts were born on the altar.”

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I write from Washington, D.C. where I’m participating in the Washington Arts Group Convocation, named “Jumping Outside of the Self-Referential Box.” (They’ve got a clever graphic for the convocation–check it out.) Well, this is just a carrot for now (see clever graphic above). The gathering is so brilliant that, as one speaker, Director Norman Stone, put it: one feels like a hamster or Homer Simpson. Hamsters consume great quantities stored in their cheeks, and digest it through the night and into the next day. So we, too are feasting of an array of fantastic faith and culture works. We’re like Homer Simpson because he’s got to empty out his brain as it fills up with all manner of good things. I don’t know about emptying out, actually, but my my mind and soul are quite fatigued from the feasting. I’m off to rest now, ’til tomorrow when I feast again. To quote Fr. Miguel Buela, IVE, “From feast to feast to the Great Feast!”

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If you’re in LA in the next couple weeks, go see Radiant Darkness. Caravaggio, anyone?

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In the beginning of ruah arts group, darkness was on the face of the deep thoughts, and the group was without form and void. I knew I was supposed to begin a faith and culture group. I’d tried once in Indianapolis and failed, so now what?

I prayed.

It was Christmas time, and my husband I returned to our place of beginning–Indianapolis. We were visiting my old work place, a great parish I commonly refer to as “The Super Parish of the World.” We spent time in their brilliant adoration chapel, and per the suggestion of my spiritual director, I began to meditate on the Nativity of Our Lord along with St. John’s Prologue. God led me to then meditate upon Genesis 1’s account of Creation. I thought about darkness. I thought about the darkness of the world. I’d been sensing in my soul a great darkness looming in this world, an approaching wasteland such as we’ve never seen. This troubled me, because the world so often seems to be sleepwalking. People and societies have the appearance of being alive, but they are the walking unconscious; they are asleep–spiritually, morally, emotionally, intellectually and interpersonally.

In the midst of this meditational nightmare, God shined a light upon the abyss. I saw in this time of prayer that it is in the darkness that God creates, such as in the Creation of the World, and the child’s beginning in the womb. When all seems lost or barren in the dull depths of life, it is then that life begins. Love is as strong as death (Song of Songs 8.6). Truly the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (Jn 1.5). I began to see that this not only a time for radical hope, but it was the moment to bring forth the light of faith and culture as I’ve been called. As I continued to pray over Genesis 1, I visualized the wind (in Hebrew, ruah) overshadowing the face of the waters. And I knew it was the time to begin, and that we would call the group ruah. I think it was Plato who said the beginning is the most important part of the work.  As we begin, I ask for your prayers for docility to the Holy Spirit, that Breath of God, in pressing forward into the dark towards the great Light Invisible. Parting tip: Read T.S. Eliot’s “Choruses from the Rock” if you have not. Read it again if you have.

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When clothes shopping, do you find yourself wondering, “Is it a belt or skirt?” “Is it a bra or tank top?” “At what point do those jeans cease to be jeans and begin to be leg warmers?”

You’re not alone, certainly, despite the Cosmopolitan & Maxim lobby telling us otherwise. Carolyn Moynihan’s smart and stylish article reminds us of transcendent values in the art of good fashion.

She uses words like “art,” “symbol,” “dignity,” and “virtue,” not to shake a fundamentalist finger at trendsetters, but to bring our culture–particularly women–forward into a place where we realize our beauty, dignity and even our “feminine genius.” And in that shining summit we say, “I am too beautiful to treat myself like I am for sale at the cost of my dignity.” The word “dignity” can have a rather opaque connotation, but here we mean “worthy of being honored and revered.” Are you worthy of being honored? Then start treating yourself like it, and dressing likewise.

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