Who is Your Spirit Person?

Wow, this book was reaffirming everything I have learned as a Chaminade Scholar in the past three years, and personally I was only responsible for one chapter! Probably my favorite part was about the way vocations are interconnected and woven through one another as we evolve from living out one vocation to the next. The quote on my slide that reads "We are all in this world for something greater than self. We each have a mission, an assignment, a calling, a vocation that is ours and ours alone" really encompasses the base that this book develops right off the bat. Not only that, it's just a great thing to remember in life - we each have a unique purpose and God threw out the mold when he made each one of us!

The coolest part we learned about was the Spirit Persons who are in our life to draw us closer to God and hear His voice more clearly. I thought of a friend of mine who I have had since freshman year who has torn down any walls I ever put up and really broke my heart wide open to let God in further. He is a definite Spirit Person to me and it was so great to make that personal connection!

The Cry of the Poor section really reminded me of the social justice action we are called to take as Catholics, the aspect of our faith that I personally forget about or push to the back burner. I love the quote from page 27 that reads

The condition of truth is to allow the suffering to speak. It doesn't mean that those who suffer have a monopoly on truth, but it means that the condition of truth to emerge must be in tune with those who are undergoing social misery. 

The chapter all about authenticity really stood out to me as well. So often, the world tries to make us people we aren't or society gets in our heads and tries to tell us how to act a certain way. that is generally contradictory to our vocation! I love that being your full, unique self is the simplest way to live out vocation. AND it was interesting to learn about the "false self" aspect of everyone so we can recognize it and ignore or avoid when that part of us creeps in.

Basically the beauty of this book was how much it emphasized what we've been learning all semester - living your life as the masterpiece God intended it to be :)

Good Old Fashioned Field Trip

I was skeptical of our Saturday afternoon field trip to the Dayton Art Institute and wasn't really sure what to expect. I think going in with no expectations really helped me have an open mind throughout the day. Starting off the morning with some good old crafting and basically an art class really loosened me up and I thought to myself, this is gonna be fun! And boy was it! :)

The tour of the whole museum really helped me take in a wide spectrum of art types from all over the world. While I learned a lot about art that day, I learned a lot more about myself and what I'm drawn to, what captures my attention and makes me dig deeper to find out the message the artist was trying to convey. It was interesting how, when we had free time to ourselves, I found myself coming back to this painting by Janet Fish entitled "Embroidery from Uzbekistan". I couldn't take my eyes off of it! The vibrant colors drew me in and when I looked at it I just thought, "this is me". The other painting I loved was of the woman standing in the doorway of her house in the middle of an open field looking out - I actually got to wonder what she was thinking and what or who she was looking at. The whole rest of the day, I wasn't particularly struck by any of the art that had faces in it. I don't like to over think art and wonder the deeper meaning behind it, sometimes I just like to soak it in for what it is! That's what Janet Fish's painting did for me, as well as a lot of the other modern paintings. 

For me, I didn't really have any sort of "spiritual" experience at the art institute, it was obvious to me how much of a math/science brain I have, but I definitely appreciated our time there and had a great time stepping out of my comfort zone and trying something new! I haven't been to a museum since high school, that was really awesome!

Like a Little Kid!

Joyce Carol Oates - what a woman! She has the spark of a child but the writing style of a professional. Here's a bit about her and her book, The Faith of a Writer, that I really loved.

1) Art originates in play

Play is the creation of a whole new and different reality! Art is the same way :) Art gives us the opportunity to be child-like again and free!

2) Desire to create something DIFFERENT and REBELLIOUS

Children - desire to create something simple and not beyond the norm > there is a lot of beauty to this! We could all use to be more like children in this respect.

Adults - desire to create something new and unexpected and mature...equally as important, different, and necessary for growing 

3) Memorializing

Storytelling is a way to remember something but keep it fresh and new -- maybe it's a time we want to remember about ourselves, a time we were most like ourselves or most outside ourselves. 

Stories tell a bit of who we are, where we're going, and who we want to be - they build a sense of community amongst each other! Sharing is key, being part of each others' lives is artistic.

4) Salvation and Repenting

Art comes from within our buried selves - it's an expression to try to REDEEM ourselves

Repenting is not letting your failures or way off the path consume you.   

 

Wait...so really...what is ART!?

All semester, we've been talking about this ever pervasive question - What is ART? And although the book "Art and Soul" doesn't exactly answer the question direction or succinctly, we gained a better understanding of art and the meaning of its presence in our lives through reading and discussing this book.

One of my favorite things to describe art is that it is not to be analyzed, it's just to BE. Too often, we feel it's necessary to have answers to describe things and be absolutely right, instead of just leaving room and opportunity for different kinds of interpretation. Art is one of those things! It doesn't have to have a deeper meaning, but it could, it's just to be what it is and nothing more, nothing less. To me, that really gives the audience of art a lot of freedom to decide what the art means to them. No rules, just your own feelings that art invokes.

Another thing I loved was that art shouldn't give the meaning away right off the bat - it's kind of like the old phrase "playing hard to get". So true!!! Art, like women, should always be a little mysterious - it we knew all there was to know right away, we'd get bored!! Such truth, I just love it!

Finally, the last thing that stuck out to me was that the world is not black and white, neither is art. That is something I have learned so much in the past few years - things are not always YES or NO, BLACK or WHITE. There is a middle ground, a grey area that is undeniable. It is sort of comforting to know that this is a universal thought (or at least present in one book we read!). What a refreshing thing to be reassured of.

A Change of Pace

When we spoked with filmmaker David Tlapek on the phone on March 6th, I was very intrigued by the fact that he went all the way to law school but ended up being a filmmaker! Wow! What a leap of faith, what a huge change of pace, and what faith that God has something else planned than he originally expected, clearly.

David seemed to be sort of at a loss when we asked him what he felt his main vocation was, but I was pleasantly surprised when he answered that it was a prayer-centered life with a healthy perspective on priorities. Seriously, that should be everyone's vocation! It's so simple, but so true. Have a relationship with God, get your priorities in line, you should be good for life. We complicate life with the mundane things that don't fill us up the way relationships do.

His inspiration coming from being tapped into life and paying attention to people and situations really mirrored what Tom Shadyac said earlier in the semester! That was neat to me, to see two filmmakers with similar priorities and goals. David's motivation and personal drive were really inspiring and I really enjoyed learning about him via telephone conversation!