Hello, it doesn't seem like there are questions about theology so much on this forum. But maybe there are still people here who can help me develop these thoughts. I'm trying to make a little speech or blurb in front of a small group about Christian art, or art in general. How beautiful secular art can reflect God. Is this true? And I'm trying to understand the the idea of "word made flesh". This is a literal sense of the Eucharist. But can it also be used to explain us living God's word, being icons of Him? Would it be appropriate to incorporate this phrase into my talk on art in our lives?
Maybe something like an artist's work is an incarnation of their spirit? And anything good in their work is a reflection of their spirit and of their relationship with God.
Open the Book of John and slowly read what it says about The Word. Meditate on that. It has nothing to do with art. Everything to do with Jesus. The Holy Spirit can work Through an artist for inspired works. Just like the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit. That is how we get our gifts, through the Holy Spirit. There are many gifts just as those given at Pentecost. Healing, speaking, writing, art, music, etc. There are many great works of art inspired by the Holy Spirit. One of them is the Pieta. There are many musical creations inspired by the Holy Spirit. To name one, Handel’s Messiah. When he finished it he said, “I did not write that I am not humanely capable”. The image I use for my avatar is the fibronacci sequence. A divinely inspired element repeated in nature. Many artists use divine perspective to achieve the best possible composition in artwork. Our churches are filled with inspired art because in the not too distant past people could not read, so they were taught with artwork. Our Lady of Guadalupe is a pictograph to teach the natives through pictures. It’s very interesting. There I go rambling again, don’t know if I’ve helped you.
I believe that, in a way, art materializes what exists in the conscious, unconscious, and subconscious of an artist, while in relation to the Incarnation of the Word, the fullness of God's love for His chosen ones was made manifest among us. The holy icons, in a way, reflect the essence of God, who in the form of the incarnate Word became accessible to us. While in the old covenant not even Moses could directly touch the Eternal Father, in the new covenant Christ Himself heals the sick directly with His Blessed Hands and asks Thomas to touch His Holy Wounds to prove that He was a resurrected body of flesh and not just a spirit, as the Docetist heresy taught. No one can have full access to what goes on in someone’s mind, but in a work of art, the artist expresses the convictions, thoughts, and feelings that he freely wishes to manifest. In the mystery of the Incarnation, God fully manifests His love for us in a body made of flesh that seeks out the lost sheep, touches the sinner and the sick, and pours out even the last drop of His Most Precious Blood to save us.
Luan, think about this. Holy Icons are not painted or drawn, they are written. I think that is so interesting. I know a Sister who is an iconographer and before she starts working on one she prostrates herself on the floor asking for the Holy Spirit. When you stand before an icon you do not look at it, it looks at you. Iconography is its own class of gifts.
I think John 1 is all you need for a blurb but you could spend hours meditating on the first few verses. I went to a recent talk and the Priest spent over an hour on just these lines. I felt my soul lifted to heaven in wonder as I listened. I wish I had recorded it. 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The true light that gives light to everyonewas coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory,the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
