As I described in an earlier post —The Visions of Mary Southard — “Many of her paintings are providing me new perspectives on my DVD “THE LOVEBURST” — The Cosmic Love Story of Ongoing Creation.”
In a recent interview with Michael Dowd of Evolutionary Christianity, Mary described her sculpture of an altar inspired by Teilhard de Chardin’s Mass on the World. She describes the curved wooden arms as embracing the Earth with compassion, while supporting a transparent altar-top that allows natural light to flood the Earth from the windows above.
Hearing this brought a picture to mind, which I visualized in one of my composite images. Thank you Mary for your ongoing inspiration.
Francis of Assisi was one who, more clearly than most of us, saw “God in all things.”
In his Canticle he addresses all creatures as “sisters” and “brothers” since the world of God and the world of nature are one.
From the wealth of eco-spirituality resources offered by Fr. Al Fritsch, S.J. on www.earthhealing.info comes this prayer for the healing of the many wounds we have inflicted on our Earth. collaborated in visualizing and producing this video version of this powerful message.
May we all have a change of heart and mind, that comes to life in our day-in-and-day-out actions.
One of the authors who has long inspired my spiritual journey is James Finley, a former Trappist monk who continues to live and teach the spirituality of Thomas Merton. This video is inspired by an entry in his book Christian Meditation — Experiencing the Presence of God.
The leader of a Christian Zen retreat that Finley attended, led the group in a meditation based on a phrase from Psalm 46 “Be still and know I am God.” Father Thomas Hand asked the group to repeat the phrase after him, as he shortened the phrase each time.
I, who tend to be addicted to doing, doing, doing, created this video to help me better live the call to be, to be present to my present moment, to be truly present to others, and to be present to the Presence of God in my life and in my world.
Every once in a while, you come across a person who shares your vision — and that’s a true joy. Rarer still, is finding someone who can express your vision better than you imagined possible — that’s real revelation. This was my experience in recently revisiting the art of Mary Southard, CSJ (a member of the Congregation of St. Joseph). She describes herself as “a life-adventurer whose fascination is the wonder and creativity of our Sacred Universe!”
In this follow up to my last post “The Deep Seeing of Frederick Franck” this video provides a virtual visit to his sculpture garden Pacem in Terris, in Warwick NY, 50 miles northwest of New York City. As Franck himself described it, Pacem is
“One man’s work of art that aspires to be an oasis of quiet and sanity, dedicated to what is human in each of us human”
My thanks to Roy Goodwin for permission to use photographs from his visit to Franck’s “oasis of quiet and sanity”. http://returntothecenter.typepad.com
Pacem in Terris is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday from May through October. Admission is free. Here are a few articles that provide more information on Pacem in Terris: www.riverreporter.com travel.nytimes.com
I have come to know and to value the depth perception of Frederick Franck through his books, such as The Zen of Seeing and Fingers Pointing Toward the Sacred. Through his art and writings he invited us who are “addicted to merely looking at things” to reawaken and to cherish “our inborn human gift of seeing.”
Frederick Franck (1909-2006) was a painter, sculptor, and author with a deep interest in spirituality. His sculptures are in the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Fogg Art Museum, and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, as well as at Pacem in Terris, a small sculpture garden adjacent to his home in Warwick, NY.
“Merely looking-at the world around us is immensely different from seeing it. Any cat or crocodile can look-at things and beings, but only we humans have the capacity to see.”
“To see reveals the meaning, to see is to see the Sacred, to look-at is to miss it.
“To see is that specifically human capacity that opens one up to empathy, to compassion with all that lives and dies.”
“When I see – suddenly I am all eyes, I…dive into the reality of what confronts me, become part of it, participate in it.”
“…when seeing starts.…It is an awakening, a new openness for and insight into the livingness of living things, a reborn capacity for empathy, wonder, and reverence, for awe for the simplest things of nature…”
This poem by Bill Slon, a Seescapes visionary, captures the spirit of the Loveburst video series. Ongoing creation recognizes the Creator’s use of evolution to bring all levels of matter to higher realms of being and creativity.
Our Universe, and everything in it, began with what is commonly called the Big Bang. We can also call it the Loveburst — the eruption of overflowing love that could not be contained. The story of ongoing creation is a cosmic love story.
From the first helium atoms to the stars, the planets, and life — all creation has collaborated in the 14 billion year history of ongoing creation.
For a better perspective on the depths of time from which we emerged the Cosmic Calendar maps the 14 billion year story of ongoing creation into one calendar year. This is an extract from The Loveburst,a five-part video series, at http://www.seescapes.com/ Also available on DVD.
One of the projects I’m now working on is a DVD video meditation entitled The Loveburst The Story of Ongoing Creation. It’s my attempt to tell what many call “The Great Story” of our history from the Big Bang to today.
I recently came across this video from Carl Sagan’s Cosmos series that inspired my approach to the last segment of The Loveburst. I’ll share this with you, until I can get my efforts up on YouTube.
Sagan compressed the history of the Cosmos into one calendar year. The Big Bang of creation takes place at the ist second of January 1. Today is at the last second of December 31st.
A New Story
Dance of Life
Compassion