MY
Over the last week, I've been at Our Lady of Mercy church in Carrolton, Ohio and St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception church in Waynesburg, Ohio. I'll be living at and working for the parish for the rest of the summer. I've already been greatly enjoying being immersed in the life and culture of the parish, meeting new people, and serving for the various liturgies.
Next week, however, I won't be at the parish. Instead, the seminarians and next year's soon-to-be seminarians of the Steubenville diocese are taking a tour of the southern part of the diocese, stopping at churches, praying, and getting to know each other better. After that, I'll return to Steubenville and chaperone the group from the parish for the Steubenville Youth Conference at Franciscan University. It's going to be a busy week, so please keep me in prayer!
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I know that many people find Biology to be one of the easier and more fun science courses. Perhaps it was just the class I had in High School, but it never clicked with me, that is, until this summer, where I've been taking a course on Human Embryology at Franciscan University. One of the central themes of the class is how all creation glorifies the Lord, and how we can allow ourselves to be drawn into admiration of God's majesty as we study his works. Particularly, Human Embryology has been focusing on the complementarity of the male and female bodies and the development of a new human life in the womb. For example, God put immunosuppressants in seminal fluid to prevent the female body from killing the sperm, and he also put antibiotics into the fluid to protect her body and the newly conceived baby's body from bacteria. Every tube, gland, duct, and hormone that I've been struggling to memorize was created by God for an intricate and specific purpose. It's moments of perspective like these that make me especially grateful for the gift of quality, authentically Catholic education I've been blessed to receive, both at Franciscan University and at the seminary. I think younger me would have enjoyed my secular biology course more if I was encouraged to marvel at the beauty I was studying. I sincerely pray that I'll be able to hold onto a sense of childlike wonder as I grow and study. This was my final piece for Painting class. Here's a writeup I wrote for the class, describing the piece, my growth, and its symbolism.
If Blade Runner has proven anything, it’s that there is something eerily beautiful about the dystopian city. The bright and alluring left side of the painting emphasizes the glitz and the glam of city life. I suspect that the dilapidated buildings on the right side used to hold many shops and that behind the now boarded-up windows were parties and excitement. Time displays less attractive effects of urbanization. "Urbanization" is too superficial of a word. Perhaps "worldliness" is better. Every "high life" has a "low life," every attempt to party the night away ends in a hangover, every one-night-stand ends in a morning after, and every sin has consequences. As a Catholic, I associate with the lonely figure walking down the road through the dark city "valley," feeling the pull of the superficial, keeping his head down and trudging past temptations and their effects toward the light of a more fulfilling life. I speculate that the figure is all too familiar with the party life; he’s been through the ups and downs, and he walks down the road on the side worn by time and experience. I think he has a better perspective than the figures by the storefronts, many of whom I suspect he knows and tried to convince to join him. He knows that sex, drugs, parties, and money are cheap but take an expensive toll. What has it taken out of him? In his heart, I think he knows he’s supposed to be in the world, but not of it, but I think he doubts himself and feels tainted by the dark past he’s trying to leave behind. While I wonder what the walker feels like, I painted this scene out of my own experiences with sin, desolation, and depression. It’s often after the desolation passes that I realize how much perspective it lent me. At the same time, the danger during the walk through the "valley of the shadow of death" is losing sight of the light at the end of the tunnel or losing the understanding of just how far you've come. As the viewers, we can see that the figure is leaving his shadows behind him and that he’s being bathed in light. The figure only sees how far he has yet to go, at least at this point in his journey. This painting also shows how far I've come on a technical level. When I first started this painting course, my goal was to paint something along these lines. I started an attempt on the second day of class, and let's just say it didn't turn out very well. After practice and study, imitating pictures and reference images, I felt confident painting this based on a sketch I made. I’m quite proud of this one. |
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July 2023
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