“Give Us More To See”

December 11, 2012 By 15 Comments
"But how George looks. He could look forever As if he sees you and he doesn't all at once."

Yesterday, I used Georges Seurat (as imagined by Stephen Sondheim in Sunday in the Park with George) to open up a discussion about the difficulty of pursuing intimacy with God (or, often, other people).  Play!George might approve of my framing a discussion of truth through artifice, since that's exactly how he manages to see and comprehend others in the show.  In "Finishing the Hat" (below), George explains that he can only understand or interact with people from a distance. Entering the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Epistemology/Philosophy, Parsing Catholicism, Spiritual Practice Tagged With: , 15 Comments

Finishing the Imago Dei

December 10, 2012 By 8 Comments
A_Sunday_on_La_Grande_Jatte,_Georges_Seurat,_1884

So, apparently if I host an installment of the Stephen Sondheim film festival the night before a silent retreat, I end up spending a lot of time meditating on Seurat instead of Scripture.  A few weekends ago, I invited friends over to watch Sunday in the Park with George, Stephen Sondheim's musical about Georges Seurat's creation of A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.  (It's on Amazon instant streaming, go enjoy!). In the first act, Georges struggles to express himself to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Spiritual Practice Tagged With: , , 8 Comments

“In a world of wondering, suddenly you know”

November 16, 2012 By 20 Comments
inside-the-cave-pinoltepec

About two years ago, long before I converted, a student was working on his performance of "How Glory Goes" in a musical theatre masterclass that I was sitting in.  The song is from the musical Floyd Collins, based on the life of Floyd Collins, a cave explorer from Kentucky who was trapped in a cave and starved to death alone.  (An obvious topic for a musical).  Before the rocks shifted and cut Floyd off from the surface completely, there was a narrow shaft open.  A very slight reporter … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Conversion, Spiritual Practice Tagged With: , 20 Comments