QUESTIONS and ANSWERS
Q: What does ContemplariChristi means? A: It means "the contemplation of Christ"
Q: Why are you painting the Eucharist? A: The Eucharist has been a key element to my
personal faith journey and continual conversion. .... To me, contemplating and painting the Eucharist helps to answer the first and second commandments: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:30-31). When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased.
personal faith journey and continual conversion. .... To me, contemplating and painting the Eucharist helps to answer the first and second commandments: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:30-31). When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased.
Q: What are these writings on the paintings. Is it Hebrew, Arabic ...?
A: Fr. Jean-Pierre de Causade wrote in Divine Providence, “When God speaks He uses mysterious words, and they are a death blow to all that we are as rational human beings, for all the mysteries of God destroy our physical senses and our intellectuality. These mysteries revitalize the heart, but they bewilder the rest of us.” The writings on the paintings express how the Eucharist speaks differently to each one of us. Sometimes through scriptures, meditation, friends, circumstances... The writings are painted from right to left, perhaps in a tongue that can be understood only through the spirit. Adoration of the Eucharist is a spiritual attitude that begs Him to speak to us. Then it is our task to meditate on His language to us.
A: Fr. Jean-Pierre de Causade wrote in Divine Providence, “When God speaks He uses mysterious words, and they are a death blow to all that we are as rational human beings, for all the mysteries of God destroy our physical senses and our intellectuality. These mysteries revitalize the heart, but they bewilder the rest of us.” The writings on the paintings express how the Eucharist speaks differently to each one of us. Sometimes through scriptures, meditation, friends, circumstances... The writings are painted from right to left, perhaps in a tongue that can be understood only through the spirit. Adoration of the Eucharist is a spiritual attitude that begs Him to speak to us. Then it is our task to meditate on His language to us.
Q: Why do you associate a quote, often from a saint or a mystic, with each painting? A: Because I think we should pay much more attention to Mystics and Saints who have repeatedly shown a much deeper and clearer understanding of the Eucharist than trained theologians and scholars.
Why are you calling yourself a painter and not an artist? A: God is The Artist, I am a painter. Moreover, I have no artistic education nor training. Out of respect for those who do, I prefer to be called a painter.
How do you reconcile your faith with your scientific education? A: "Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart the desire to know the truth — in a word, to know himself — so that by knowing and loving God, men and women can come to the fullness of the truth about themselves" (Fides et Ratio. by Pope Saint John-Paul II).
