A few oil paintings from 2004

Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, SJ

Retired Archbishop of Milan

Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, SJ

Interview on

August 8, 2012

Corriere della Sera Italian newspaper

How do you see the situation of the Church?

The Church is tired, in prosperous Europe and in America. Our culture is out of date; our

Churches are big; our religious houses are empty, and the Church’s bureaucratic apparatus is growing, and our rites and our vestments are pompous. Do such things really express what we are today? ... Prosperity weighs us down. We find ourselves like the rich young man who went away sad when Jesus called him to become his disciple. I know that it’s not easy to leave everything behind. At least could we seek people who are free and closer to their neighbors, as Bishop Romero was and the Jesuit martyrs of El Salvador? Where among us are heroes to inspire us? We must never limit them by institutional bonds.

Who can help the Church today?

Fr. Karl Rahner liked to use the image of embers hidden under ashes. I see in the Church today so many ashes above the enbers that I’m often assailed by a sense of powerlessness. How can the embers be freed from the ashes in order to rekindle the flame of love? First of all, we have to look for those embers. Where are the individuals full of generosity, like the Good Samaritan? Who have faith like that of the Roman centurion? Who are as enthusiastic as John the Baptist? Who dare new things, as Paul did? Who are faithful as Mary Magdalene was? I advise the Pope and the bishops to look for twelve people outside the lines for administrative posts [posti direzionali]–people who are close to the poorest and who are surrounded by young people and are trying out new things. We need that comparison with people who are on fire so that the spirit can spread everywhere.

What means do you advise against the Church’s weariness?

I have three important ones to mention. The first is conversion: the Church has to

recognize its own errors and has to travel a radical journey of change, beginning with the Pope and the bishops. The scandals of pedophilia are driving us to undertake a journey of conversion.  Questions about sexuality and all the themes involving the body are an example of this. They are important for everyone, at times they’re even too important. In this area is the Church still a point of reference or only a caricature in the media?

The second is the Word of God. Vatican II restored the Bible to Catholics. ... Only

someone who receives this Word in his heart can be among those who will help the renewal of the Church and will know how to respond to personal questions wisely. The Word of God is simple and seeks as its companion a heart that is listening. ... Neither the clergy nor Church law can substitute for a person’s inwardness. All the external rules, the laws, the dogmas were given to us in order to clarify the inner voice and to discern spirits.

For whom are the sacraments? They are the third means of healing. The sacraments are

not a disciplinary instrument, but a help for people at moments on their journey and when life makes them weak. Are we bringing the sacraments to the people who need a new strength? I’m thinking of all the divorced people and couples who have remarried and extended families. They need a special protection. The Church maintains the indissolubility of marriage. It is a grace when a marriage and a family succeed. ... The attitude we take toward extended families will determine whether their children come near to the Church. A woman is abandoned by her husband and finds a new companion who is concerned for her and her three children. The second love succeeds. If this family is discriminated against, not only the woman, but her children, too, will be cut off. If the parents feel external to the Church and do not experience its support, the Church will lose the future generation. Before Communion we pray: “Lord, I am not worthy...”

We know we are unworthy. ... Love is grace. Love is a gift. The question whether the divorced can receive Communion would have to be turned upside down. How can the Church come to the aid of complex family situations with the power of the sacraments?

What do you do personally?

The Church is two hundred years behind. Why is it not being stirred? Are we afraid?

Afraid instead of courageous? Faith is the Church’s foundation–faith, confidence, courage. I’m old and ill and depend on the help of others. The good people around me enable me to experience love. This love is stronger than the feeling of discouragement that I sometimes feel in looking at the Church in Europe. Only love conquers weariness. God is Love.

I have a question for you: “What can you do for the Church?”

Martini's funeral
Aug. 31, 2012

Dream: Jesus in My Car

                                                                                                                                  Dec. 21, 2006

I’m driving a compact/mid-size car and Jesus Christ is in the passenger seat!  We’re in San Francisco, which becomes Houston, as well.  I am just elated, and I ask him all sorts of questions about his past and present self.  He is cool to respond. 

As I ask, a former scene comes to mind: a conversation among friends, some with much more Biblical knowledge than I. 

One man said, “You know, Jesus and his brothers were raised as Christians.”

I and others balked at this, “How can that’ve been?”

We realized that there are newly unearthed texts about him.

Another person said, “I read that he was a good singer.”

As we spoke, this image appeared:  A bust of Christ is being formed out of gray clay – being shaped by many hands. …By our hands?

Back in the car.  I question Christ so much that I realize I missed my workplace, where I’m supposed to drop him off.  (It is now supposed to be a stop for both of us, and it blurs into “home”).  Christ folds his arms in irritation, for I am now lost. 

He says, “You know, not everything you and your friends said about me is true. For instance, I did sing in a school choir, but I wasn’t really good at it.  And anyway, you guys are missing the point. None of these particulars really matter.* 

Stefan, you’re missing the point.”

Jesus is a medium-built man in his early 50s, short, dark hair, clean shaven, contemporary attire (jeans & sweater).

_______________________________________

* = This line may have been a clarifying thought just after waking.

Christ kind of resembled a friend (E) I had just recently become acquainted with; a new member of the UU choir.  A friend I have since gotten to know very well, who challenged me & really questioned my decision to become a Catholic, & who wondered whether or not it was a mistake.

Preface to the Dreams in REMpath

Out of all of the bizarre, fantastic and illustrative dreams, all of the sorting through and processing of family, work, relationships, etc.,  my focus here will mostly be on fairly explicit ones with spiritual/religious, philosophical, and even psychic elements.

The personal is universal, so I hope these will resonate somewhat with others. 

Kernels of truth are  inside each one of them!

Keep in mind that although some religious symbols and references will be mentioned, they may not represent themselves per se.  For example, just because Christ appears in a dream, he is not simply a representation of Christ specifically, but perhaps the dreamer’s highest self / highest potential, or a notion of the personification of divine energy, or all of the above.

Some dreams will be proceeded or preceded by notes, in italics, meant for clarification, or to show links to other dreams or waking-life events.

Useful autobiographical details to keep in mind:

•  I am a gay Mexican-Italian male artist.  A fraternal twin.

•  Lived in Houston, Texas until 2000, then moved to San Francisco, California.

•  Mother died in April 2004

•  Modern Spiritualist upbringing. Involved in a Spiritualist study group off and on from  

   2003 - 2011.  

•  A Unitarian Universalist from around 1994 – 2011 (sang in UU choirs).

•  Underwent Catholic conversion process (RCIA) from October 2010 – April 2011.

    Baptized Easter Eve, April 2011.

       Although Christianity has fascinated me since childhood, and I have associated

       closely, and occasionally worshipped with, Catholics for years (especially since    

       2001) - as late as 2009, I barely fathomed I’d actually ever finally convert!

Book Signing

Pearson & Bellows

1.  Luke Pearson is a contemporary illustrator from the UK. 
Here's a page from his book Everything We Miss (Nobrow press).

2. George Bellows. American realist "Ashcan School" painter (1882-1925).

Best known for his depictions of boxers and big city life. 

                                        

                                          Fisherman's Family (1923) just blows me away!

And look at this shot of New York. New York (1911). It has so much going on, it's like it tells a story like old history paintings do.  I am there, looking out a window of a ten-story building...

  

Cards!

I've just placed a series of greeting cards in the Paulist Bookstore at Old St. Mary's Cathedral.
14 designs.  'Just gettin' the art out there!  The images are from three of the icons I sold there, and also from paintings and the recent books.