The transforming power of beauty

St. Andrei Rublev yielded converts to the mere existence of God from the beauty of one icon (in particular)--the Holy Trinity... I am in awe of the gifts that are given to hands of this earth looking through the heavenly window. St. Joseph of Volotsk had this to say of Rublev's Holy Trinity~

"How the icon came into life, and how it does so for us now, are things we must imagine and describe. And it is precisely for such a a description that we on earth are given the Thrice-Holy Hymn to the One-in-Essence and Life-Giving Trinity whereby our immeasurable desiring and loving ascend in spirit to the icon's incomprehensible prototype so that, by means of its material appearance, our mind's thoughts fly to the heavenly Desiring and Loving where we venerate--not the material thing--but the manifestation of that which makes the material thing beautiful; hence, in a transference, we come to venerate not he icon but the prototype; and in so doing, the Holy Spirit illumines and enlightens us not only now but in the age that is coming when we shall receive the great, incomprehensible gift, the age when all the saints in their physical bodies shall shine with a light brighter than the very sun itself: and it shall happen so because, in kissing this icon with love, they venerate the One Essence of God in the three angelic persons of the icon as they pray to the Holy and Life-Giving Trinity--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--and give thanks to our God. "

Just a small reflection and great encouragement of man's ability, an artist in particular, to wholly serve his Maker...

Finding our way...

Enter with me the musings of the places we are called--interior heart and tangible walls... How to build up, fortify and glorify He who has given all. She the Church waits for us to love her. Three-dimentional icon of space and form--model of the universe, a vision of the redeemed, transformed cosmos-architectonic mimesis (reminder) of a divinely ordered universe. Incarnation. I keep thinking of my hands being able to praise with the creation of a house of worship that is as pure purfume poured forth. Beauty. Beauty that can transform souls simply by being allowed to enter its womb, even if briefly to taste and see.

To love and discern beauty. What are we being called to? Can we help to make manifest heaven on earth with beauty enough to glorify and give thanks for being given the chance to rise out of the dust? I want to rise higher. Climbing over fallen man and fallen self, I feel like such an infant--one who has not shouted from the hilltops the thanks that is due. What are the shackles that bind? All is possible. We who are dead to sin--

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have Mercy on me, a sinner..."

But hopefully I can get my voice to open (effort by effort) and be able to reverberate and echo in strength. To be a bird! But it is not just me. It is the us, the collective bouquet in varied manifestation of shape, form, color, sound lifting in effort, defining the light, revealing the ultimate creator, God himself. Truth. Being an artist is to be given the chance to be a participant in this making of beauty. Beauty will indeed save the world but we must go forth and claim creativity in His name. This will be saving beauty. This is Truth.

"But above all the eyes of the soul must be fixed on Christ, who, like a good painter, paints in those who believe in Him and constantly behold him, a portrait of the heavenly man, in his own image, by means of the Holy Spirit, out of the very substance of his ineffable light." --St. Macarios of Egypt

We can labor and start building. The trees have been cut, the stones and bricks are ready to be put into place. It is time for foundation to be laid. Time is our gift and time is now.

Theotokos puts her trust in God

I am praying for grace as I have been sick the past few days. I sit with Emma in my arms and give thanks for this beautiful gift of life (and pray for healing and for endeavors laid forth that need answers--a sign?)...
To be servant of the Divine will, Mary poured her trust into the font of creation. We too must learn to trust in total humility the journey that God has put us on, to joyously accept and receive all that is, was and will be~

Thou art truly the mediatrix
of grace and joy...

As Saint John of Damascus says: " You are truly more precious than all of creation, for from you alone the Creator received a share of human nature. His flesh was made from your flesh, his blood from your blood;God was nourished by your milk, and your lips touched the lips of God. Incomprehensible and ineffable wonders!" (Homily on the Nativity of the Virgin Mary)

To trust, to trust, to trust...

And a new day

Finally the cooler air has lifted and the world sings of warmth and newness. Sun, light, and a new day...

And so to contemplate things of the Spirit and the gifts and tools that God has freely given us to help us in our journey, I am encouraged. "Man moves in images... " said St. Augustine, and knowing " God created man in his own image" (Gen 1:27), I rest (today) in looking at icons of Christ in the here and now. Moving the first icon I have ever made this Lent--(the one of Christ above) to clean, I am reminded of a very definate sense of calling. Partly knowing the experience of executing process, and tasting the beauty of the process (barely tapped), I know here I can be stripped bare and known, but at the same time beautifully unknown as one who joins in with the echoing of a tradition dating back centuries to Christ himself and those who knew him--liturgy of image right alongside logos. This for me defining a full extention of the true creative process, where all artists of faith strive to be. Pouring ourselves into the Spirit. Losing ourselves... Lifting Light up to the world silently and medatatively(or with loud mountaintop exultations!)--being witness to the reality. The here and now, past and everlasting.

Christ is the image of the Father, fully God and fully man. And it is here, in Him and through Him, the tarnished image of man recovers its initial beauty. Now we are able to become one with God through grace, through communion in the death and Ressurection of Christ because God became one flesh with man by nature through the Incarnation of Christ.

The icon proclaims God, and reveals the New Man and the New Creation. The icon lives through faith of those who contemplate it. Especially as we live encumbered by a chaotic world, striving and yearning for the New Jerusalem, the icon anticipates our coming face to face with God as a ladder raised up to encounter divine mystery--and it is here that we become opened up to the Holy Spirit.

"Engrave Christ, whenever it is appropriate, as the one who lives within your heart, that by reading about Him or seeing Him in an icon, you may know Him by the two means of knowledge...and that you learn to see with your eyes that which you learned through words..." --Theodore the Studite

And what of moving icons?

We keep moving through time...

This place of being: And out of nothingness, I AM

Today is the day the Lord has made: let us rejoice and be glad in it. Christ is risen! This moment in time brings us to being--our being, His being. Being and believing. All that was, is and is to be. Redemption, ressurection, and revival. Breathe on us Holy One that we may take up your cross with humble hearts and follow you with all that we are--action and contemplation and love moving together. Moving together to be living witnesses of Truth in this world. OPEN OUR EYES. May we fathom the perfect image of yourself that you have inscribed within each one of us, and help us to reveal through faith the Beauty that you have freely given...

Today. A moment of pause as I collect thought and intent--what am I doing here? In between the infinite duties of life, I want to secure a place of refuge in which to serve as a document to a journey of learning, grasping, grappling, striving, and hopefully insight into the beauty, and importance of icons. My own understanding is limited, yet is driving me to seek fullness. I have had great internal movement to follow this cloud upon the waters, and as an artist to go to that place where image is sacred and used to deepen our own life in the spirit, and that of the whole world. Mystery of God's self-revelation--beyond history, yet made visible through it. Transcending all human emotions: joyful, sorrowful and yet glorious--a window of timeless continuum speaking each day anew.

So briefly I stake a claim into words to plant seed and see what will grow. This marks the beginning of a journey.

As a cross-taker, a wife, a mother, an artist, I will open my eyes.

To see means to receive Christ in his Light. To believe is to know God, grasping that there is true knowledge only in His love. Light exists as a wonderous gift, and articulates the world around us through time.

And as time is fleeting for today, I will return when I can pull imagery and beauty to behold. Sweet Emma is calling...