Spiritual Refreshment

IC photo/Marie Mischel

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Tim Peters, a Cathedral of the Madeleine parishioner who was among the artists participating in the “Pilgrims of Hope” exhibit at the cathedral Feb. 15-16, describes one of his stained glass pieces to an attendee.

Saturday provided me with the opportunity to experience two very different expressions of our Catholic spirituality.

The first was the veneration of a relic of Blessed Michael McGivney, a parish priest who founded the Knights of Columbus more than a century ago to care for the widows, orphans and injured workers in his community. Today, members of the international Catholic fraternal organization carry on his work; here in Utah, they do a myriad of good works, from organizing the annual diocesan science fair to raising funds for seminarians to undertaking a myriad of projects that benefit parish communities.

Catholic theology is very clear that relics are not magical items, and that we must keep in mind that any grace attributed to them comes from God alone. However, venerating relics gives us the chance to give thanks to God for the saints, and to pray for the grace to follow their example. We can also ask the saint to intercede for us.

Although venerating relics isn’t a practice that especially resonates with me, right now there’s a particular intention I’m praying for, and it’s right in line with the work that Father McGivney did, so I took the opportunity to ask for his help.   

From this particularly Catholic custom I went to the art exhibit at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, which was a broader sort of spirituality. The exhibit theme was “Pilgrims of Hope,” drawn from the theme of the Jubilee Year, and the artwork spanned a range of subjects and media, from Christ as the Good Shepherd to landscapes, oil paintings to paper collages.

Among the artists was 14-year-old Colton Gardner, who attends Saint Andrew Parish in Riverton. He had two pieces on display: an icon of Mary, Queen of Hope as well as a watercolor of the crucifixion. He told me that the watercolor was one of a series of pieces inspired by the Jubilee Year, and although completing the pieces was draining, “whenever something really strikes you, if it’s something Christ wants you to do, Christ will kind of hold your hand through it and guide you.”

Another of the artists, Nan Carter, a St. Vincent de Paul parishioner, explained how art drew her back into practicing her faith.

Talking with them reminded me that I need to take the time to let my faith inspire me to express it in creative ways.

The exhibit was “a very good expression of hope through many different lenses of the people with whom we share the community,” said Father Anthony Shumway, parochial vicar at the cathedral.

Among the pieces at the exhibit, one that struck him was a watercolor depicting a woman surrounded by lighted candles who was in the act of placing one of the tapers in front of the statue of a saint. The painting, “Pilgrim Prayers” by St. Catherine of Siena Newman Center parishioner Bessann Swanson, was “just one of those pieces which reminds us that while we might feel alone, there’s a bunch of candles in there that represent all of the other people around us,” Fr. Shumway said.

The eighth-grade students at The Madeleine Choir School also contributed to the exhibit, offering a series of collages of the Madonna and Child. According to the information that accompanied the pieces, the students researched paintings of the Madonna and Child throughout the centuries, then reinterpreted the image in their own work.

“The concept of being a ‘pilgrim of hope’ resonates profoundly within the Christian faith, but especially as it connects to the imagery of the Madonna and Child. In Christian theology, hope is not a vague sentiment but rather an active concept of being a pilgrim of hope,” read the information with the students’ work. “The Christian faith is deeply intertwined with the themes of love, faith and the transformative power of God, and this is exemplified in the imagery of the Madonna and Child.”

It occurred to me that the themes of love, faith and the transformative power of God could be found not only throughout my activities that day but also throughout our lives, and I was glad of the opportunity to be reminded of it.

Marie Mischel is editor of the Intermountain Catholic. Reach her at marie@icatholic.org.