After being in the Holy Land and seeing so much amazing and inspiring artwork, I was reminded how much I love going to Art Galleries and just walking around and taking in the beauty of other people’s creations. I am fascinated by the diversity of the artwork that is available these days but sometimes struggle to understand what the artist is trying to communicate in their creation. Often times I find the artwork of contemporary artists even more difficult to understand. Still I wander around, looking, pondering and find myself captivated by the beauty of their creation.
Some time ago a friend of mine, himself a contemporary artist, accompanied me to a Contemporary Art Exhibition and as we walked through the exhibit he explained the different artists’ mindsets and the story behind some of the pieces. Wow! What a difference it made! He explained how it was important to interact with the art and the artist behind the work and not just to “look at it.” He maintained that the true beauty of any art needs work on both sides of the artwork. The artist has done his or her work, now we need to do our work in taking it all in. It totally changed my experience. I was able to enter into the stories for myself and enjoy the art on a completely different level. In fact, I went back another time to just spend some more time absorbing the beauty with my newly acquired knowledge and approach.
Our weekly celebration of the Eucharist is like an Art Exhibition. If we just come to look, we only get one level of experience. But if we can enter the full story of Jesus’ artwork, the gift of his very self, then we can be completely transformed by the experience. However, to do that we need to interact with the work of art and the artist, Jesus, behind the work. We need to do work on both sides of the artwork. It is often my experience that we do not come to Sunday Mass ready to do the work necessary to get the fullness of this magnificent work of art called the Eucharist. Like my friend who accompanied me to the Gallery, we sometimes need a fellow artist to understand the liturgy at a different level.
This week, I would like to be that fellow artist for you and help you better understand the beauty of our Sunday Mass and the Eucharist. John Angotti and I will lead a 3-day retreat on the Eucharist called Sharing God’s Love. We will break open our experience of the Eucharist and the true beauty behind the work of art as fellow artists of over 50 years of combined ministry. We believe that the Lord has already done his work of art and now we need to show up ready to do our work. We will share insights through words of wisdom and songs of praise to help us enter a deeper meaning of the Mass.
Please come and join us for this Fall Retreat on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, October 25-27 at 7pm-8:30pm. While the retreat will be on livestream we encourage live in person attendance so you can fully experience our short talks and liturgical songs. We know being together in person builds community and human interaction fills our hearts and souls. It will be a spirit-filled week culminating on Saturday evening with teaching Mass followed by dinner and evening concert with John Angotti. Please join us for this evening of fellowship and praise and register for dinner here.
God Bless,
Fr. Brendan