(Note : On my 99th blog entry ... one to go... so I'm doing a bit of calibrating to accommodate blogs thay may have to be written before I get to my self-imposed deadline on October 31, 2008)
“When the Artist of creation finds a blank canvas that is willing to be painted, he can paint nothing less than a masterpiece. And when we become his brush, he uses us to color the world with love.”
Quoted the above from a 'Surprise Me, Lord ' website .
The following is from Zenit ---- copied it here for easy reference …. Didn't have time to read and chew it ... will get back to this sometime ...
Reason Needs Beauty, Says Pontiff
Calls Saints and Art Great Defenders of the FaithBRESSANONE, Italy, AUG. 19, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Apologetics has two great pillars, says Benedict XVI: beauty and the saints.The Pope affirmed this Aug. 6 when he met with priests, deacons and seminarians of the Diocese of Bolzano-Bressanone and answered in German six questions they asked him. The Holy Father was on vacation in the Dolomites, where he stayed at the major seminary of Bressanone.Responding to a question from a Franciscan priest, the Holy Father spoke about the complementary importance of beauty and reason.He said that only when reason and beauty are united do they form a whole, "and precisely for faith, this union is important.""Faith must continuously face the challenges of thought in this epoch, so that it does not seem a sort of irrational legend that we keep alive, but that which really is a response to the great questions, not merely a habit but the truth," the Pontiff clarified. Recalling St. Peter's exhortation to "always be prepared to give reason for the hope that is in you," the Pope said the saint was convinced that faith is reasonable, not a "wonderful concoction, a fruit of our thought. And this is why it is universal and for this reason can be communicated to all."Still, Benedict XVI continued, though the importance of reason cannot be undermined, "I did once say that to me, art and the saints are the greatest apologetic for our faith."He explained: "The arguments contributed by reason are unquestionably important and indispensable, but then there is always dissent somewhere."On the other hand, if we look at the saints, this great luminous trail on which God passed through history, we see that ther e truly is a force of good that resists the millennia. […] Likewise, if we contemplate the beauties created by faith, they are simply, I would say, the living proof of faith."EpiphaniesThe Pope pointed to the example of the cathedral where he was meeting with the priests. "It is a living proclamation," he said. "It speaks to us itself, and on the basis of the cathedral's beauty, we succeed in visibly proclaiming God, Christ and all his mysteries: Here they have acquired a form and look at us."The Holy Father said great works of art "are all a luminous sign of God and therefore truly a manifestation, an epiphany of God.""I think the great music born in the Church makes the truth of our faith audible and perceivable," he continued. "In listening to all these works […] we suddenly understand: It is true! Wherever such things are born, the Truth is there. Without an intuition t hat discovers the true creative center of the world, such beauty cannot be born."Benedict XVI affirmed that reason must be open to the beautiful."When, in our epoch, we discuss the reasonableness of faith, we discuss precisely the fact that reason does not end where experimental discoveries end -- it does not finish in positivism," the Pope explained. "The theory of evolution sees the truth but sees only half the truth: It does not see that behind it is the Spirit of the Creation. We are fighting to expand reason, and hence for a reason which, precisely, is also open to the beautiful and does not have to set it aside as something quite different and unreasonable.""Christian art is a rational art," the Holy Father went on. "[I]t is the artistic expression of a greatly expanded reason, in which heart and reason encounter each other. This is the point. I believe that in a certain way this is proof of the truth of Christianity: Heart and reason encounter one another, beauty and truth converge, and the more that we ourselves succeed in living in the beauty of truth, the more that faith will be able to return to being creative in our time too, and to express itself in a convincing form of art."
August 21, 2008 …
· I remember and salute Ninoy Aquino … it’s his death anniversary today . His death was the seed of the EDSA phenomenon….which still has to fulfill its promise … long way to go …. But at least the another seed has been planted… I believe in the potential of the seed and of its sprouting and growing and bearing fruit … all in God’s time .
· This is difficult … I couldn’t think of an appropriate segue (from the topic above ) …. But I’ve have to jot these next thoughts down to get this off my mind … a little romantic thing …..naaah … not the gender-based romance … but ‘nature’ romance ---- I’ve been using this shampoo and conditioner from ‘Nature’s Gate’ --- a herbal , green ,plant-based formulation and I’m just amazed at the combination --- let’s see … water lily, lotus and oak tree bark , chamomile, comfrey and cherry tree bark … - how’s that for an unusual combination? Amazing the infinite abundance of nature , amazing the Creator God … ‘Love it ! The smell is woodsy , herbal , forest-y , soil-y , the smell of earth and chlorophyll … nurturing earth and life-sustaining chlorophyll ….. And for my own purposes , I’m extending the limits of what I consider ‘ romantic’ … and that for me is anything that is good and beautiful to the senses and body and which at the same time lifts my spirit and mind and emotions up to the reality of Creator God and His beauty and goodness and magnificence and majesty …. And yes , I’m gushing about Him !
· I’ m thinking of a beginning a ‘Surprise Me, Lord’ journey …. Not an experiment in faith but an application of faith in daily life … the website/author suggests four weeks … I’m hesitating beginning today …. But I’m thinking maybe September 1. I don’t know what or why , but I feel like I need to settle down some things in my internal landscape these last few days of August …. Before starting on a new phase …
August 28, 2008
· I have just thought of something that I can celebrate and be grateful about before I hit five-five…. that I was able to survive stupidity … my own and others’….
· I just had a ‘romancing the ordinary’ moment this morning at six. Creamer and milk have ran out ..the next best thing was to cream my morning coffee with some left-over’ Bailey’s cream…
· Funny how a teenage vampire love story by Stephenie Meyer contributed to the mopping up operations I am trying to do within …. Hard to describe but there were some ideas there that sort of affected in a good way my attitudes and mental perspective … Vague huh? Told you it is hard to describe and express …. Like seeing the wind ….
August 31, 2008
- Time to be still, time to chill; I have turned out the soil; I have planted new seeds..
- Time to be still and know that God is God.
I'm reserving my 100th blog for the months of September and October 2008 ... There's this feeling that these two months before five-five should be hibernation-time-in-the-dark-soil-germination time ... So unless there's really something to crow about , I will not be making any blog entries , during these two months ..... Something's going on that needs me to be still ....
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