Excerpts from "The Letter of His Holiness Pope John Paul II to Artists"

These quotes were taken from the book Chasing Francis by Ian Morgan Cron which I highly recommend. As a singer I had to read these words twice. I know full well my talent is purely for God's glory but here is a great explanation of the scope of art as ministry.

"In order to communicate the message entrusted to her by Christ the church needs art. Art must make perceptible, and as far as possible attractive, the world of the spirit, of the invisible, of God. It must therefore translate into meaningful terms that which is in itself ineffable. Art has a unique capacity to take one or other facet of the message and translate it into colours, shapes and sounds which nourish the intuition of those who look or listen. It does so without emptying the message itself of its transcendent value and its aura of mystery. . . . .In Christ, God has reconciled the world to himself. All believers are called to bear witness to this; but it is up to you, men and women who have given your lives to art, to declare with all the wealth of your ingenuity that in Christ the world is redeemed: the human person is redeemed, the human body is redeemed, and the whole creation which , according to Saint Paul, 'awaits impatiently the revelation of the children of God' is redeemed. . . . This is your task. Humanity in every age, and even today, looks to works of art to shed light upon its path and destiny. . . .Beauty is a key to the mystery and a call to transcendence. It is an invitation to savour life and to dream of the future. . . It is clear therefore why the church is especially concerned for the dialogue with art and is keen that in our own time there be a new allegience with artists. . .From such cooperation the church hopes for a renewed 'epiphany' of beauty in our time and apt responses to the particular needs of the Christian community. "

This was written in 1999. I hope that we have each had an experience where a piece of art or portion of music elevated us beyond our normal awareness to a sense of something more, something grander. As a Christian I know that "something" is a someone; the creator of my soul. I firmly believe however that even to the agnostic there is a longing brought forth in the best works of art. A longing for understanding and relation with something bigger than yourself. How great a platform anyone who has been gifted with a talent is given to preach the gospel. It goes beyond the barrier of our "needs proof" reasoning and conquers our momentarily unprotected imaginations. In my limited experience as a vocalist it didn't matter if I was singing about God, about a romance, or in another language the audience did not understand; if it was well written, they responded. It moved them emotionally. It made a connection between us, a connection to beauty which really is a connection to God, even if they don't know it yet. You see the potential?