Blessed is the Kingdom

Posted By Fr. Christian Mathis on July 27, 2010

One of the things I have noticed in the process of writing icons by way of egg tempera is that continually throughout the process there are moments when I look down at what I have completed and say to myself, “That looks great already. Maybe I should just stop here.”  Who wouldn’t be tempted to think this? It is easier to stop when something already looks good, plus this removes the risk of messing things up in the later part of the process. But to do so would be to short change it. It never ceases to amaze me to see an image that looks good already transformed into something even more beautiful when more work is put into it. Yes, there are risks of making mistakes in each step of the process, but mistakes can be corrected. Mistakes also keep us humble.

This same process can be applied to the Christian life. I am fairly certain that a common temptation is to simply live our Christian faith in a “good enough” fashion rather than risk sainthood. Makes sense to me. If things aren’t broken, if my efforts at living a Christian life are going fairly well, why mess with it? Trying to attain even greater heights in the Christian life puts one at risk for a greater fall. But to avoid the risk is to avoid the call that God places before all of us, that being the perpetual call to greater holiness. The tough thing about embracing this call is the certainty that when we do, our temptations to sin will grow exponentially. That’s a fact. Like the writing of an icon, however, corrections can always be made. God’s mercy is endless. We learn about the areas we need to grow by risking failure, and even expecting to fail with the knowledge that when we do the only real failure is in not getting up again.

The last step of writing an icon is to paint a white line around the halo that matches the color of the white gessoed board one starts with at the beginning of the process. My teacher Irene said something that has been echoing in my mind since Saturday about the white line. “If you reach the end of writing the icon and you are still not holy,” she said, “this final white line invites you to go back to the beginning and try again.”

I’ll be starting with a new white board today.

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Tags: failure, faith, holiness, icons, mistakes, risk, temptation

Posted By Fr. Christian Mathis on July 23, 2010

My fellow iconographer friend, Bill Quick, reminded me today that the process of floating colors is always a friend, as it covers a multitude of sins—meaning in this instance, painting errors. But all joking aside, there is a spiritual truth to be gained in this process. Our teacher, Irene, likes to say that if you can see things on the board that could have been done better, the float shows you mercy by covering the mistake. If, on the other hand, you see something you would like to brag about, the float teaches you humility by covering that too.

This is the part of iconography that never fails to amaze and challenge me. Since I have begun learning this discipline, people often ask me if I have always had artistic ability and the thing is, I don’t consider iconography to be art. It is prayer. It teaches me, sometimes rather brutally, what my relationship with God and others actually looks like. It reminds me that there is mercy when I am need of it, and also can put me in my place when that is called for.

I am looking forward to one more day of work and conversation with St. John the Baptist.

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Tags: Bill Quick, humility, icons, Irene Perez-Omer, mercy, prayer, St. John the Baptist

Posted By Fr. Christian Mathis on July 20, 2010

Steven Pressfield begins his book The War of Art by describing what he defines as Resistance. It struck me today that at least a third of his list of activities that most commonly encounter this force are ones that could describe what I am doing this week. Below I have quoted the three that seem to apply to this week of iconography as I could certainly feel the resistance today.

The following is a list, in no particular order, of those activities that most commonly elicit Resistance:

1) The pursuit of any calling in writing, painting, music, film, dance, or any creative art, however marginal or uncoventional.

4) Any program of spiritual advancement.

10) Any act that entails commitment of the heart.

Much of the resistance I am feeling comes from the fact that I am attempting to move forward in my skills by learning how to mix my own paint. In previous workshops I have always relied upon my teacher to mix the paints so that I could work on other aspects of icon writing. This is a whole new world of trying to mix the proper colors together in the right amounts between each step. It has slowed my normal pace considerably. The thing that most struck me today was my struggle to stay focused on the task at hand. That, my friends, is resistance at its best.

My prediction is that I will continue to experience resistance in my quest to learn iconography as I can see years of things to learn and to improve upon, and those are just the things I can see from the eyes of a novice. I pray that as we continue this week that the icon of John the Baptist will continue to come into sharper focus, as will my knowledge of paint and color.

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Tags: icons, resistance, St. John the Baptist, Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

Posted By Fr. Christian Mathis on July 19, 2010

There’s nothing like a week of iconography to get this blog moving. I suppose one could say that I have been plagued with an enormous case of writer’s block. A combination of having a week to work on an icon of John the Baptist and beginning a book called The War of Art has gotten me back to the keyboard today.

Each time I begin a new icon I am struck by something new. This morning it was Irene’s comment about the grain of the wood used in iconography. She reminded us that one always paints with the grains running vertical as a symbol of reaching up to heaven. The wood represents the Tree of Life in two senses–the first Tree of Life that was found in the Garden of Eden as well as the ultimate Tree of Life, the Cross. We Christians should always be reminded that it is through the Cross of Christ that we have been given link for reaching up to heaven. May this week serve as a reminder to me of my perpetual need to reach out to God for help.

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Tags: icons, Irene Perez-Omer, St. John the Baptist, The Cross, The War of Art, Tree of Life, writer's block

Posted By Fr. Christian Mathis on July 11, 2010

Today’s Sabbath post focuses on the forgiveness. You can find it here.

Once again you are invited to join me in promoting the Sabbath by taking a break from your normal blogging. Please share an older post from your blog that is near and dear to your heart. Make sure to leave your name and the URL of your post below and share a comment if you so desire. I look forward to reading your recycled posts!

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Tags: forgiveness, mercy, Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh, rest, Sabbath, theosis

Posted By Fr. Christian Mathis on July 9, 2010

Hearing the word of God with reverence and proclaiming it with faith, the sacred synod takes its direction from these words of St. John: “We announce to you the eternal life which dwelt with the Father and was made visible to us. What we have seen and heard we announce to you, so that you may have fellowship with us and our common fellowship be with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:2-3). Therefore, following in the footsteps of the Council of Trent and of the First Vatican Council, this present council wishes to set forth authentic doctrine on divine revelation and how it is handed on, so that by hearing the message of salvation the whole world may believe, by believing it may hope, and by hoping it may love. (Preface of the Constitution on Divine Revelation, Second Vatican Council, 1965)

When I was a studying at Mundelein Seminary in Chicago many my classmates and I were intrigued by the nearby Willow Creek Community Church. One of my friends heard about a “Generation X” service that they were offering. Being part of the population who have been labeled “Generation X” we decided to make a visit to see what the service was about.

One thing that immediately struck me about Willow Creek was that most of what I experienced in my visit there looked almost completely like anywhere else in American suburbia. As we entered, there were huge parking lots where people were directing traffic in like manner to what I have experienced when attending a baseball game. As we made our way through the massive complex I felt more like I was at the mall, than church. There were many auditorium like rooms where several services could take place simultaneously and a bookstore full of books mostly about financial planning (though I did find one copy of The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer). There was a massive food court and young couples with children running in every corner of the building. We entered the large room where the Gen X service was to be held that was full of men and women in their twenties. The service opened with a band who played a popular song at the time, One Headlight by the Wallflowers. Next, we watched a skit about relationships and then a young man took the stage to tell us about the one true source of revelation, The Bible.

I left Willow Creek that night disturbed by what I saw. While there is certainly something to be said about being able to attract thousands of people to a church each week, I wondered to myself what God was it that was being worshipped there. It seemed that almost everything I saw there pointed to a God remade in our image, rather than a search for the God in whose image we are created.

The words of the young man who passionately spoke to us about the one true source of revelation being The Bible continued to bother me. Each moment that I thought about what he had preached, the more strongly I found myself in disagreement. The one true source of revelation is not The Bible. Jesus Christ is the one true source of revelation and The Bible is a book that can teach us things about Him. Revelation is not found for Christians in a book, it is found in a person.

Later in my time at Mundelein I had the opportunity to take part in an ecumenical class where I was able to speak with a man who was at that time a minister at Willow Creek. He explained to me that before their church opened they surveyed the people in the area to find out what they wanted in a church and then designed the church around the results of the survey. He also lamented the fact that there was no requirement of any sort of baptism, profession of faith, etc. to become a member. He saw this as a tragic weakness in the church. The conversation made me wonder how one could combine the very successful outreach efforts of a church like Willow Creek, with the long held treasures found in our Catholic tradition.

St. Thomas is currently exploring how we can be a more welcoming parish. My hope is that we can improve our ministry of hospitality while not losing the depth of our tradition. In other words, I would be sad to see us become more of a church patterned upon our own image, rather than Christ. It is not an easy task.

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Tags: Catholicism, Dei Verbum, Generation X, Jesus Christ, Mundelein Seminary, revelation, The Bible, Willow Creek Community Church

Posted By Fr. Christian Mathis on June 27, 2010

Today’s Sabbath post focuses on the Holy Spirit. You can find it here.

Once again you are invited to join me in promoting the Sabbath by taking a break from your normal blogging. Please share an older post from your blog that is near and dear to your heart. Make sure to leave your name and the URL of your post below and share a comment if you so desire. I look forward to reading your recycled posts!

Category: Uncategorized | 4 Comments »
Tags: Eastern Christianity, Holy Spirit, rest, Sabbath, shame