“Over every living thing which is to spring up, to grow, to flower, to ripen during this day say again the words: This is my Body. And over every death-force which waits in readiness to corrode, to wither, to cut down, speak again your commanding words which express the supreme mystery of faith: This is my Blood.” –Teilhard de Chardin, Mass on the World, video presentation by Greg Hildenbrand
“Not many people want to become priests in our day, but everyone is hungry. So many people are hungry for spiritual food, there are so many hungry souls.” –Thich Nhat Hanh
Welcome to Day 23 of the Wonders of Worship (WOW) series. Today we ponder the Meal.
Covered with lichen
Branches become crucible
Holy table set
“It is to your body … to the world become… the glorious, living crucible in which everything melts away in order to be born anew… It is in this dedication, Lord Jesus, I desire to live, in this I desire to die.” –Teilhard de Chardin, Mass on the World
Ways to Engage:
- Practice Visio Divina (receive, reflect, respond, rest) with the painting.
- You may notice that from time to time I include a haiku in 5-7-5 syllabic form. I invite you to give it a try when there’s an idea you want to express creatively.
- Download the B&W image. Color it on your own or with a friend. Color in silence or while watching/listening to the video presentation of Teilhard de Chardin’s Mass on the World linked above. Let it inspire further contemplation/conversation.
- You do you. Trust your intuition and engage in the way your heart desires.
To download the black and white image for personal use: on a computer, click and drag the image to your desktop; on a phone, press on the picture until it gives you the option to save it to your photos. The image is formatted to fit on an 8.5″x11″ piece of paper, but feel free to print it whatever size you’d like.
Background: I created a series of forty 5″x7″ watercolor paintings inspired by the elements of worship. It was work commissioned by a project with Nourishing Vocation with Children at St. Olaf College, a program funded through Lilly Endowment’s Nurturing Children Through Worship and Prayer Initiative.
As the paintings are shared, you may notice a pattern:
- Music = Songbird
- Prayer = Seed and/or Fruit
- Word = Leaf
- Order of Service = Element of Nature
- Season = Insect with a Flower
One final creative invitation for this project remains for me: to paint a Tree of Life holding all forty elements. I plan to share its progress here.
For this series, I am grateful to have used handmade paper from White Dragon Paper and watercolor paints from Natural Earth Paint.
vonda drees art 