God is creative and there is no one way God uses to befriend us. Why should we be any different? In a non-threatening environment, our Programs use theatre arts, photography, poetry, paint, clay, mandalas, movement as simple as your finger wagging or walking, sound and music, and the art of others.
Our Art as Meditation programs have been offered as regular workshops at local and National Conferences of Dominican Youth Preaching and College Preaching in Action, as a bimonthly program at Carlin Hall Infirmary of the Sisters of St. Dominic, Amityville, as an invited guest process in courses at Molloy College, and as components of many workshops and retreats done in local parishes and retreat centers.
WWW.PREACHINGTHRUTHE ARTS.HOMESTEAD.COM
GOD WAITS WITH ANTICIPATION FOR US! WHAT WE SEE WITH OUR EYES AND HEAR WITH OUR EARS TOUCHES OUR HEART!
The community room at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, Centerport, was converted into an art studio July 10-12 to accommodate a unique Scripture study workshop directed by Amityville Dominican Sister Barbara Schwarz. Participants used paint, pastels and modeling clay to express their inner feelings while connecting more personally and vividly with specific Gospel passages.
The workshop, which emphasized God’s everlasting love, also included role playing that required participants to recreate Bible scenes focusing on the healing ministry of Jesus. “The arts provide another set of tools that we can use to pray,” explained Sister Barbara Schwarz, an artist with an educational background in biblical theology. “The arts enable people to feel and understand in their core what’s going on. It unlocks the unconscious and helps us to understand more deeply how we can connect to a particular Scripture.”
From Participants in Sister Barbara's Art as Meditation Sessions:
"I can't believe all I learned from the drawings I did. Now I know what I need to do to change. I couldn't find words before."
"The movement is what touched me. I experienced God in just the simple holding of my hands."
"I started out thinking maybe this is-- you know crazy --but the more I have done it the more I have come to see differently and know the deep connections within my self to God and others. This is serious and hard work!"
"I still have the mandala I made six years ago hanging in my room. It still speaks to me."
with simple meditations
