An Invitation to Artists: Let’s Change the World

Dear fellow people of the world,

It is time for ordinary people to change the world. I firmly believe it. The world is so fascinated by extraordinary people and their talents, that we seldom pay attention to ordinary men and women. However, God doesn’t tell us that we need an extraordinary faith to move a mountain. He tells us that we need faith the size of a mustard seed which is, if you’ve never seen one, really tiny. You see, the smaller we realize we are, the more whatever we accomplish is for the glory of God. It’s that simple.

Look, the whole “With Mary in Christ” project started with the idea of wanting to gather artists of all kinds to inspire beauty into the world. I wanted to gather writers, singers, poets, and other creative people to form a part of something bigger. However, words escaped me when I tried to invite people into the project so it has been quietly sitting with a few waves of motivation here and there until today. Today, you see, by the grace of the Holy Spirit and by God’s mercy I ran into a beautiful letter by St. JP II “A Letter to Artists“. As I read it, I was like “YEAH!!!!! THAT, I WANT THAT!!!” and then sweetly and oh so subtly I felt God tell me, “Remember if your idea was inspired by love for me, you have to trust my timing”.

So, this is a lot of things. It’s me trusting God’s inspiration and timing. This is also me trusting you, but more importantly, I firmly believe this is the Holy Spirit telling me to quit standing still. So, I invite you to read the letter to artists that St. John Paul II wrote as an invitation to participate with your talent on this website. However, until then, I will leave a few quotes here from that letter.

“Not all are called to be artists in the specific sense of the term. Yet, as Genesis has it, all men and women are entrusted with the task of crafting their own life: in a certain sense, they are to make of it a work of art, a masterpiece”.

“On the threshold of the Third Millennium, my hope for all of you who are artists is that you will have an especially intense experience of creative inspiration. May the beauty which you pass on to generations still to come be such that it will stir them to wonder! Faced with the sacredness of life and of the human person, and before the marvels of the universe, wonder is the only appropriate attitude.

…People of today and tomorrow need this enthusiasm if they are to meet and master the crucial challenges which stand before us. Thanks to this enthusiasm, humanity, every time it loses its way, will be able to lift itself up and set out again on the right path. In this sense it has been said with profound insight that “beauty will save the world”.(25)…

Artists of the world, may your many different paths all lead to that infinite Ocean of beauty where wonder becomes awe, exhilaration, unspeakable joy.” St. John Paul II

In the letter, he calls writers and poets and actors and architects artists. However, I’d dare to say that you don’t need to be extraordinary to be considered an artist. So, clean humor comedians, photographers, story-tellers, doodlers, one-sentence of written inspiration writers, and so many more fit into this category. You are artists, and we need you. What’s more, if you are not an artist but you have a beautiful testimony of how God has worked through you, then God is an artist through you, and we need that inspiration too. A doodle may reach more people than you may realize. Others may be reached by other means. If any of your work leads to a contemplation of beauty or marvel at God (which includes making someone smile), then please, consider sharing it with us as well. The world needs hope, motivation, enthusiasm, joy. Artists can share that. You can somehow share that. I firmly believe it. May the love of Jesus, Mary, and St. Joseph be our inspiration.

With Mary in Christ,

An Artist in Training

P.S. Don’t forget to Contact Us !!