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  • Writer's pictureProfiles in Catholicism
    • Jan 15
    • 28 min read

Art and Spirituality



A Message from the Editor


I was a working artist for about 15 years and had several art galleries featuring my art. I seldom tried to take on spiritual topics since the galleries. did not want spiritual art. But I did create a Pieta for a customer who bought several of my works. Then when the AIDS pandemic came, I stopped being artist and founded the Physicians Association for AIDS Care with the help of Dr. Len Feininger, a Vice-President of the American Medical Association. So working on this issue of Art and Spirituality brought back many happy memories when interviewing some great artists.


Antisemitism is becoming an epidemic. We all have an obligation to speak out whenever possible to reduce this hate crime whenever if affects our community.


In an unimaginable coincidence, l had some sugar-free raspberry sorbet for dessert recently, then I learned that The Irish Post reported that cocaine and heroin haul worth millions found hidden in raspberry sorbet . Be sure to read the article in this issue of Profiles in Catholicism.


A Quote to Remember

 

“It is not art in the professionalized sense about which I care, but that which is created sacredly, as a result of a deep inner experience, with all of oneself, and that becomes ‘art’ in time.”

by Alfred Stieglitz


Prayers


A Prayer for Artists Who Create Sacred Art.

 

“From Creator to Creative Creatures”

 

Oh Father of all, you built the universe through dynamic words, expanding into sentences all what, from nothing, leapt into existence,

linking particles finer than the finest dust, multiplying into atoms and molecules, solidifying into planets and stars, breaking the darkness with burning light, and lightless, energy sinks, swirling through the shapes of space and telling time in pulses unstoppable, rippling and running through changes, whether mauve coloured inter-stellar clouds, bespeckled smudges with sparkling stars, near and far, or ever-changing weather compositions, cloudless or countless shades.

 

And in your generosity you have given to men and women, a glimpse of your word-architecture, raising stones like fountains, rising shape uponshape until, like trees, the arches fan wide and bear the load, not of leaves but roofs, not branches but decorated ceilings, eyes into eternity, capturing moments of life in colour, whether your own or that of your saints, sending messages to all, every day, of your presence among us, past and present, always illuminating lives like stained glass, shattering the darkness, dispelling evil, trumpeting the good to be done, today and every day, in imitation of your own work.

 

Oh Father of all, from out of what conception of life comes the seed and all it contains, the myriad ingredients of small, replicating chains, immersed in communicating cells containing energizers, nutrients, documents of development, drilling the growth of plants, animals and human beings, manifesting from within a form without and populating the planet with varieties of culture raising races, dwellings, culinary palates, objects of inventions and inventiveness, and species upon species of individually different families of creatures, showing forth the domestic sparkle of creative imaginings.

 

And so you sowed in us a generous gift of overflowing glory in children’s drawings from the life of your Son, cards greeting the seasons of the Church, paintings of the great events of salvation history, sculptures depicting the figures of the holy family and the family of saints, decorative details adorning the altars, rails, kneelers, fabrics of our worship, whether worn or draped, hung or made into banners, canopies, shaping the many outward signs of your splendid presence, especially the light-scattering, star-points, of the crafted vessels of your Holy Presence, muted impressions of hidden glories.

 

Oh Father of all, you generated detail upon detail of how to depict the temple in which you would dwell, the angelic imagery, the skills that were necessary to transform the varieties of woods, the exotic colours, the different metals, including gold and silver, and the many precious stones into the multi-faceted image of your divine dwelling, rising above all that was around in its extravagant magnificence and yet,

 

In time, your Son took flesh and dwelt in a humble hand-maid, a graced life, a new beginning, who found favour with you, Mary, the Immaculate Conception, sinless, she conceived her sinless son, Jesus,

 

Who took the form of a man and, in an incomparable act of humility, He chose the Passover bread to express the past, make it present and be food-in-future, throughout time, now and forever, an endless gift.

 

And in your abundant giving, you have sculpted the human heart to be the interior place of your coming to rest amidst the noise and busyness of life, whether traffic, machinery, jostle or marketing mayhem, so that your divine gifts of faith, hope, and love, transform a feeble, fear-ridden heart, trembling over sins since committing them, can bring again that simplicity, humility, and praise that expresses the reality of your indwelling, inhabiting, and consolidating communion, communicating the mystery of the Head to the many members of the Body of Christ belonging together in the Holy Spirit.

 

Oh Holy Family, generate anew the domestic Church, enlivening the flock of Jesus Christ, that we may shape the joy of times to come from

the very hearth of burnt beginnings, ever hoping in your help to guide the chisel, the paint brush, the pencil, so that outward art and truth, goodness and love, will inspire a lovely place of your presence within.

 

by Francis Etheredge , Catholic married layman, father of 11, 3 of whom are in heaven, and an author: francisetheredge.online

 

Prayer for Gaza


May ten million voices cry for peace to end the violence and the hate,

Let goodness over come the evil, let the senseless violence now abate.

The innocent of Gaza suffer wounds, hunger, thirst, countless met their death,

Missiles, bombs rain down, the world looks away without a care or second breath.

Women, children many thousands dead, “Not a stone will be left upon a stone” you truly said.

Lord, we see countless murders and massacres profound

Once again on the once holy sacred ground. Justice, peace so far away, let your power and words |bring the evil to an end,

Let truth and love change people’s hearts and turn themfrom enemy to be a friend. Amen

by Father Shay Cullen Profiles in Catholicism


A Prayer for Those Who Were Murdered and Injured at Mass in the Philippines

 

Good and gracious God,

The beautiful gift of priesthood was cut short in the Philippines as a forceful explosion, suspected to result from a bomb, tore through a morning Catholic Mass held in a university gymnasium, killing at least four people and injuring more than 50 others. The incident took place on Sunday in a predominantly Muslim city in the southern Philippines, according to local officials. The morning Mass was in progress at the Mindanao State University in Marawi City, a state-run institution, when the blast induced panic among students and teachers in the congregation. The aftermath left victims bloodied and strewn across the ground, according to campus security chief Taha Mandangan. Mandangan said the act was unmistakably an act of terrorism and rejected any notion of a simple personal feud. He said at least two of the wounded were in critical condition. Help the people of the Philippines turn to you, dear Lord as they strive to put an end to violence and open their lives to your mercy and love. Help us to live in peace with one another and realize that all of us are loved by God and we need to honor His pleas to know and love God and all of our neighbors more completely. We ask this through Our Father, His Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen

by Eileen Quinn Knight, Ph.D. Profiles in Catholicism


A Prayer to Prevent Antisemitism


Lord God, through the covenant you established with the Jewish People, we Christians have been grafted into this covenantal tradition according to St. Paul.  But very often throughout history, we have shown ourselves ungrateful for this gift given us through Jesus who imbued in his teachings this Jewish covenantal tradition through acts of antisemitism.  We join with Popes St. John Paul II and Francis in confessing our sins of antisemitism past and present.  Through this prayer, we commit ourselves to the elimination of any remaining anti-Semitic teachings in the Catholic community and pledge to add our public voice in denouncing any manifestations of antisemitism in contemporary society. We ask for your blessing so that we may have the strength to fulfill this pledge we make in your presence.

by John T. Pawlikowski, OSM, Profiles in Catholicism 



Lord God, as we mourn the recent loss of life and human

suffering in Northwest Pakistan, we ask for strength in the face of attacks on

fundamental human dignity. We acknowledge your face in all of our brothers

and sisters. We pray that you give us the courage to stand up and say NO to

the increasing examples of human brutality.


Art and Spirituality Interviews

General Interviews

Art and Spirituality Articles and Commentaries


General Articles and Commentaries


Featured Report


Medical Journal Articles

Book Announcements, Reviews, and Commentaries


Film Reviews and Commentaries

Theater Reviews and Commentaries

Remembering Those Who Have Passed

 

Age is in debt to Death

and Death shall Sue

when Age Outruns the Issue of It’s Bond

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Videos


The Unbelief of St Thomas - Praying with Art - Geoff Wheaton SJ The Catholic Church and the Arts


Pope John Paul II's "Letter to Artists"


Anselm Kiefer Interview: Art is Spiritual

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