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Southern Cross, Page 12 Faith Alive ‘Lectio divina’ and the beauty of faith: Discovering art as an aid to worship By Jem Suluvan (CNS) r I tunic of the last time you read words A on a page or screen. Perhaps it was the headline news, a newspaper column, blog post or online article, your email or Facebook page. Images and sounds were most likely part of that experience. We live in a visual culture. Images and sounds flood daily life from our waking moments to the day’s end. What is the place of sacred images in worship, faith formation and the spiritual life? How might we discover or re-discover the beauty of faith expressed in art? Here is one practical approach that adapts the ancient monastic practice of “lectio divina” to appreciating works of art as an aid to worship and prayer. “Lectio divina” literally means “divine reading,” or “holy reading.” Strictly speaking, “lectio divina” is a Christian spiritual practice that focuses on the reading of sacred Scripture. The art of the church architect By David Gibson (CNS) A simple, white-granite altar, together with the crucifix and striking white baldachin suspended above it, catches and holds the eye as soon as one enters the remarkable church constructed in the early 1960s at Saint John’s Abbey and University in central Minnesota. In planning this church, its Hungarian- born architect, the widely known Marcel Breuer, and members of the abbey’s Benedictine community, known for expertise and leadership in all things lituigical, confronted a key question. Could a way be found, through the church’s very design, to foster unity among everyone present during celebra tions of the Mass and to encourage their full participation in the liturgy? The church opened in the fall of 1961, not long before the promulgation late in 1963 of the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. It asked that “great care” be taken when churches are built “that they be suitable for the celebration of liturgical services and for the active participation of the faithful.” Those present for celebrations of the It traces back to the early monastic tra dition when monks and nuns used stages or steps of “lectio divina” to read, reflect and live God’s word within the monas tic rhythm of prayer and work. Four traditional steps - “lectio,” “meditatio,” “oratio” and “contemplatio” - of “lectio divina” are being rediscovered today as a fruitful path of prayer. “Lectio divina” is a prayerful, reflec tive reading of the word of God as divine revelation, as the very “speech of God,” as stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (No. 81). Practicing “lectio divina” rests on the conviction that “the word of God is living and effective” (Heb 4:12). The first step, “lectio,” invites us to a slow reading of God’s word. This takes some getting used to as it is the opposite of the “speed reading” we are accus tomed to today. When applied to appreciating a work of art, “lectio” invites us to quiet the mind, eye and ear in silence, allowing us to look at works of art in a reflective spirit. With the painting before you, begin by asking simple questions: What do I see? Which Gospel stories or figures are depicted? Who is the main subject? The secondary scenes and subjects? Who is in the background, the foreground? And what is being conveyed through the artists’ use of light, color, line and movement? The second step - “meditatio” or prayerful meditation on God’s word - is a silent pondering of God’s word. The Christian tradition has always looked to Mary, the mother of God, as she “kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart” (Lk 2:19). As the catechism notes, “to meditate on what we read helps us to make it our own by confronting it with ourselves. Here, another book is opened: the book of life. We pass from thoughts to reality.” (No. 2706). In “meditation,” one moves from the “what” and the “who” to the “why” of the artistic masterpiece. Pondering with the “eyes of faith” now we look to the mysteries of faith presented in visual form. If the image is a Gospel scene, begin with the Scripture passage it evokes. Moving between the sacred text and its visual representation in a silent ponder ing of word and image draws mind, heart and will into the beauty of faith. Identify key artistic symbols and reflect on their meaning in the light of God’s word. “Oratio,” or prayer, is the third step of “lectio divina.” Now the divine word meditated on turns into prayer. The mind’s pondering becomes the heart’s spontaneous offering rising to God in praise, thanksgiving, intercession or petition. When applied to appreciating art, “oratio” turns the mind and eye from visible beauty to the invisible God, the divine artist and source of all that is true, good and beautiful in the world. From the heart’s depths arises a hymn of praise and thanksgiving for the gift and beauty St. John's Abbey and University Church in Collegeville, Minn., reflects how a church's very design can foster unity and encourage participation among everyone present during celebrations of the Mass. Contemporary architects frequently "have constructed churches which are both places of prayer and true works of art," St. John Paul II noted in his 1999 "Letter to Artists." (CNS photo/courtesy St. John's Abbey) Mass “should not be there as strangers or silent spectators,” the council declared. “Full and active participation by all the people” is the aim. When you think of artists serving the church, architects might not be the first to come to mind. But they came to mind for Saint John Paul II in his 1999 “Letter to Artists.” An artist’s work has the potential to reflect God’s creative work, he suggested. It was particularly the beauty created by artists that captured the pope’s attention. “It can be said that beauty is the vocation bestowed on (the artist) by the Creator in the gift of ‘artistic talent,”’ a talent that ought to “bear fruit,” he wrote. Among the artists mentioned were poets, painters, sculptors, architects, musicians, actors and others. I confess that I am partial to the church Thursday, August 31, 2017 of faith in visual form. A fourth step of “lectio divina” is con templation, a fixing of one’s inner gaze on Jesus Christ. This quiet and trusting rest in the presence of God is a silent abiding under the gaze of God’s merciful love. . Simply being in God’s holy presence rather than doing is the goal. Receptivity to God’s grace and openness to the trans forming power of God’s word replaces anxious, self-sustained effort. Appreciating artistic beauty leads to an experience of contemplation as “a gaze of faith, fixed on Jesus.... This focus on Jesus is a renunciation of self. His gaze purifies our heart; the light of the counte nance of Jesus illumines the eyes of the heart and teaches us to see everything in the light of his truth and his compassion for all.... “Words in this kind of prayer are not speeches; they are like kindling that feeds the fire of love” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 2715-2717). With “lectio divina,” one moves from seeing to contemplation to praise of God. It is in seeing with the eyes of faith that sacred art evokes and glorifies “the transcendent mystery of God - the sur passing invisible beauty of truth and love made visible in Christ. ... (For) genuine sacred art draws man to adoration, to prayer and to love of God” (Catechism, No. 2502). Suluvan, professor and writer, is the author of “The Beauty of Faith: Using Art to Spread the Good News.” at Saint John’s and to its uniquely simple beauty. My 1963 class at the university the monks run was the second to gradu ate in the new church. Years later when I participated in Sunday Mass there, I felt that the under lying purpose of the Liturgy of the Eucharist still to come was made plain when several monks came forward after the homily “to set” the Lord’s table at the main altar. Of course, the church’s interior archi tectural design drew all eyes to this action at the altar. No columns obstruct one’s view of the altar, or the monastic choir, or the congregation. The floor plan, with its trapezoid-like shape, lends itself to pulling the assembled commu nity together and making it one. Thus, it aids worship by nurturing a sense that those participating in the liturgy are bonded both to God and to each other. Contemporary architects frequently “have constructed churches which are both places of prayer and true works of art,” Saint John Paul noted in his “Letter to Artists.” The church, he told them, needs artists, needs them to “make perceptible, and as far as possible attractive, the world of the spirit, of the invisible, of God.” Gibson served on Catholic News Service’s EDITORIAL STAFF FOR 37 YEARS.
