FULLY ALIVE

ART SHOW STATEMENT

“The glory of God is man fully alive,” wrote St. Irenaeus.

But what does it mean to be “fully alive?”

Well, I’m not exactly going to answer that question- 

because I don’t know! At least not fully.  You could say this show is my attempt to poke at the mystery. 

Who can ever tell what it means to have a share in God’s own blessed life (CCC 1)? Or what it would mean to live out of that promise?  “No eye has seen, and no ear has heard, no human heart has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him ” (1 Cor. 2:19) 

Yet it is what we are all invited to discover, in a journey of personal transformation, over the course of our earthly pilgrimage.  What does it mean to step further and further into realization of God’s promises?  When I say ‘realization’ I mean they become real to you - they go from a ‘head’ knowledge to a ‘heart’ knowledge such that his promises are activated in your life and you live from them. 

Vision plays a hugely important role in our lives.

It gives us direction, it orients us to the place we are going.  It allows us to believe the destination is reachable.  But to reach the destination we want, we must seek the right vision.  

To become an image of the living God, transformed by his life, we must fix our eyes on him. 

God himself is the beatific vision, most perfect and beautiful beyond our wildest imaginings.  And as he made and continues to make the world, he does it by pouring out his very nature, imprinted in creation, there to be seen in every fiber of being.  In doing so he invites us to encounter him in every corner of creation.  He is not hidden from us, but we must slow down and attune our eyes.  

To encounter the world in this spirit of prayer and openness is to allow God to open the eyes of our hearts, to enliven us again with his promises.  

This show attempts to bring into focus small windows, corners of creation, opportunities to slow down and enter into the mysteries.  I invite you to spend a while, simply letting the images make an impression on your spirit, allowing God to sift your heart and perhaps show you an area of your life in which he wants to bring his promises more fully alive.