Artist Christian

If Christian meditation is thought, emotion, and imagination that leads to prayer, to conversation with God, then one way to approach it is not a book, but a work of art. Fine art will engage a different senses, and it will communicate. It was used for centuries as a teaching tool, even a catechism. The artist can help us to see something in a new way, or to feel the emotion of an event centuries before. We can use the image as a visual template to enter a scene in our imagination and thus experience the great events of our salvation. Although Christian religious art would be the safest to start with, all art could be useful if it is a method used to talk to God. Remember that God is the original source and author of all beauty. See, Wisdom 13:3. The Catechism of the Catholic Church., sec. 2129 last sentence. See Catholic Tradition and Teaching on Religious Art.

Can. 1186 To foster the sanctification of the people of God, the Church commends to the special and filial veneration of Christ's faithful the Blessed Mary ever-Virgin, the Mother of God, whom Christ constituted the Mother of all. The Church also promotes the true and authentic cult of the other Saints, by whose example the faithful are edified and by whose intercession they are supported.

Can. 1187 Only those servants of God may be venerated by public cult who have been numbered by ecclesiastical authority among the Saints or the Blessed.

Can. 1188 The practice of exposing sacred images in churches for the veneration of the faithful is to be retained. However, these images are to be displayed in moderate numbers and in suitable fashion, so that the christian people are not disturbed, nor is occasion given for less than appropriate devotion.

Can. 1189 The written permission of the Ordinary is required to restore precious images needing repair: that is, those distinguished by reason of age, art or cult, which are exposed in churches and oratories to the veneration of the faithful. Before giving such permission, the Ordinary is to seek the advice of experts.