Faith, Hope & Love

For nearly my entire life, I never really "got" Mother Theresa. Sure, I knew her fame...but didn't really understand her as a person, what was all this fuss about her, or know how I could relate to her. Recently little by little the mystery of Mother Theresa has unfolded for me, of course there is still a lot further I could go with her, but I know her better than I did a year ago, when I made this ceramic triptych based off of her. Today I just finished reading Mother Theresa's Secret Fire, which reveals that the driving force behind her person was a profound and deep encounter with the thirst of God for her love and the love of each person.






Faith, Hope & Love , Ceramic, 2009


This piece as you can tell is not completely intact, currently only one out of the three components of this piece isn't destroyed. I feel that working on this piece was an opportunity for me to physically express my desire to understand and know Mother Theresa better. Although other people have expressed fondness of this piece, I feel that I now would be much better equipped to make a piece on Mother Theresa that went below the surface. Or if not making a piece explictly depicting her, definitely having my art in general being influenced by what I now know of her. As I was reading about her encounter with God's thirst and how it changed her, I could definitely relate to my own experience of His desire for me and how it has changed me. Mother Theresa is an inspiration for me go deeper still. If I could let the truth of God's longing for me and for each person penetrate me deeper I am sure I'd be able to live my life, more so than I am now, in a way that draws people to Him. I need to be seeking to create art that communicates the love of God for each person I represent. It is important that I take mother Theresa's advice and reflect often on the divine words "I thirst". What do they mean for me? I'd like to get those who view my art thinking, what does this Love communicated through this image mean to me? How am I to act on this? God, who is Love, like any lover desires the love of His beloved. It is my challenge to make this beautiful Love clear and accessible through my art. I hope to do this especially through the subject of the human body, male and female, which speaks a language of relationship, of love and union which mirrors the life of the Trinity, in whose image we are made. Our call to love is stamped in our inmost being and is made visible in the design of our bodies.

Consider the person of Mother Theresa, the beauty and impact of her life came all from being consumed by God. We are all called to live with that sort of passion, and it comes by being transformed by knowing you are beloved of God and desiring nothing but loving Him with every fiber of your being. The way to grow in this relationship is to spend time getting to know God, and not getting discouraged with your shortcomings...your complacency, inconstancy and lukewarmness. Jesus lamented to Mother Theresa, "They don't know me-so they don't want Me...". Mother Theresa sought to make God known through her love in action. After encountering the love of God you can't help but act on it...that's how I hope to live and make art...love incarnated in action, love made visible in image. I don't know how this is going to play out, but I know that any effectiveness I have in communicating Love, Truth, and Beauty will be an overflow of the creative Love I recieve from God. Apart from Him we can do nothing.