IMITATING GOD THE GREATEST ARTIST
We can only give thanks to God for his many gifts. I never knew that I was an artist – priest. For many years I refuted the thought of being an artist. I liked reflecting on art: painting, literature, dance, drama, and music. I loved the contours of the Jamaican mountains, the seas, the rivers and the water falls. Everywhere I went, I defended Jamaica as the most beautiful country in the world and I still do. God, the greatest artist placed especial attention in creating Jamaica as the artists of artists.
Because our island is so beautiful, we are intuitively a creative and artistic people. Give thanks to God for that, God of course, is the greatest of all artist. He made the world and His son Jesus Christ is the most beautiful of all persons that could ever be.
I do not say pretty but most beautiful through whom all things were made.
I don’t know why I wrote plays, religious plays, drama without great but unknown Jamaicans. I don’t know why I find beauty in the poor, just as I find beauty in the crucified Christ.
You should see the hard work, night after night, day unto night of the cast members and technicians. They are giving shape and form to the life of Isaiah, that tragic but poetic prophet who died for the truth exposing corruption beneath the appearances of wealth and material beauty. I humbly bow before the Lord for the artistic gift he has given me. As Pope John Paul says:
” Within the vast cultural panorama of each nation, artists have their unique place. Obedient to their inspiration in creating works both worthwhile and beautiful, they not only enrich the cultural heritage of each nation and of all humanity, but they also render an exceptional social service in favor of the common good.
The particular vocation of individual artist decides the arena in which they serve and points as well to the tasks they must assume, the hard work they must endure and the responsibility they must accept. Artists who are conscious of all this know too that they must labor without allowing themselves to be driven by the search for empty glory or the craving for cheap popularity, and still less by the calculation of some possible profit for themselves. There is therefore an ethic, even a “spirituality” of artistic service, which contributes in its way to the life and renewal of a people. It is precisely this to which Cyprian Norwid seems to allude in declaring that “beauty is to enthuse us work, and work is to raise us up.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION OF FATHER HO-LUNG & FRIENDS AND HIS 80TH BIRTHDAY
“In 2010 I resigned my Job and became a full time Volunteer with the Ministry.”
My time the Missionaries of the Poor and Father Holung and Friends first began in 1997 when I auditioned for the first staging of “Isaiah.” I had a mishap and couldn’t be apart of the Production then but I auditioned again in November of 2000 and have been one of the core members ever since.
As a child My mother would take me to watch the plays at the Little Theatre and I always wanted to be part of the production. I grew Up Watching Wynton Williams, John Jones, Darcy Tulloch-williams and Grace Jervis. These were some of the Pioneers of the ministry and I have the utmost respect for them.
In 2010 I resigned my Job and became a full time Volunteer with the Ministry. My attraction to the Ministry was first and foremost the Music but when I got there, that was changed. I had to work with the poor and destitute. This changed my life and gave me an appreciation for life itself. Being a part of the ministry has afforded me the opportunity to travel all over the world singing and raising funds for the people in our care. Congratulations to Father Holung and Friends Music Ministry.