In Search of Beauty

I look out the window

to see a restless night.

I close my eyes, so that I might for a while

escape the pain behind me.

There sat he

behind me

news on the telly.

He’d been on the news

some days ago.

Run over by a reckless driver.

Hit and run. Both legs mangled.

Forever injured.

Now the news spoke

of ground shattering war,

lives taken, families scattered.

War, famine,

death, destruction.

Brother deceiving brother.

A world in chaos.

And in this moment of despair,

in a world with no rhyme or reason,

I turn my face upwards towards the stars

and silently scream

“Where is my God?”

And I think to myself,

why do I expect to find God in hell?

What is this place we call our own

if not a man-made hell?

Here in the realm in which we tread,

in which we’ve spread our corruption,

we have silenced Heaven’s bell; for we no longer seek

it’s guiding toll, threw away the Holy Bread.

Our god is born from self-deception.

Greed and power-lust are its holy word.

We are a world of modern-day Mammonites.

The devil calls,

‘Come to me and I’ll reward ye

Wealth, power, all the world’s comforts shall serve ye…..if simply

Ye kneel before ”me.”

Tempted with an easy life,

a life of grazing on coin, engorged with recognition and fame

we’ve thrown our soul onto the pyre,

sold our soul to the devil’s fire.

So I clutch the crucifix hanging from my neck

pleading for a sign that God is listening.

But all I hear, in this darkened night, is the street below, brimming

with the desperate vibrations of a technological world,

a world desperate to make gods from men.

I squeeze my eyes, my mind swirls with thought.

What prayer ought I say?

What words may this mouth of a blasphemer speak?

I try to croak out a plea for help,

but the weight of my sins seems to pull the prayer into deep abyss

leaving in its wake a snake-like silence seemingly solid and unbreakable.

Until to my surprise,

through that deep solid silence,

A voice breaks in song.

It was a simple song

sweetly sung, its sound softly soaring and at times, falling.

Its simplicity seemed to lure me.

I lean back towards the song

and before long,

I can make out the words

constructing a song of praise

to Him who made all.

Slowly my eyes open, I turn round,

and there before me sits the singer,

wheelchair bound.

“How?”, “how can you find the words to sing

of beauty, in a world so sick without

love, a world so drenched in darkness and sin?”

A smile shined from his face and he said

“Finding the words is no hard feat,

when beauty is all around.

You just have to learn to see”.

My father used say;

“how does the sparrow fly so free

despite all that threatens it?

It flies because it knows

that beauty always grows

taller than terror.

It knows it can find shelter

in the trees that tower,

and find peace

among the smallest flowers.

Despite all that hunts it,

the sparrow never gives in.

And so must we never give up

just because of sin.

Just because there’s death

does not mean there’s no life.

There is still love

despite the strife.

The loving parent

who adores the child,

the patient teacher

who nurtures the mind,

The humble worker

to whom most are blind,

who toils and troubles

to serve.

There are many times

when humans sacrifice out of love.

It is this sacrifice

that raises us above

our monstrous desires.

Open your eyes

See past the lies

The world is not in darkness.

It isn’t all night.

Open your eyes and see the light.”

See more –

poetry-myself-divided-by-liam-agius/

ten-educational-spiritual-music-benefits-for-students/

The post In Search of Beauty | A Poem by Jacob Fiott appeared first on Universe of Faith.

Myself, Divided

I was once one body whole,

One in mind and one in soul;

But this wholeness I had won

Was at once to come undone

By one sole bullet fired

Through my introspection’s gun.

And I felt the one burst forth

Into a raging sea of fractions,

Dead delusions and abstractions.

Then as I saw the waves divide

Through parts of me I had denied,

The flood of numbers took me under

And dragged my drained and worn-out ego

Dangerously close to zero:

A yawning, gaping zero at the centre of it all.

And through that yawning zero’s eye

I catch a glimpse of the boundless eternal:

The untold depths of void maternal

Which spits us out and swallows all.

And through its transient secretions,

Ever shifting like the seasons,

I catch wind of its faint message and perceive

That my essence is inessence:

Heavenly lessons in evanescence;

And my passions lie in ashes at the bottom of the sea.

And as I push with all my will

That vast emptiness to fill,

Tossed around by the wild oceans

Of my unrestrained emotions,

I reach the sudden understanding

That I am the sum of all my flaws,

All my outbursts without cause,

All my dreams and aspirations,

Repressed needs for validation,

And I open my lips wide and swallow all.

So as I gulp down that vast ocean

In one all-embracing motion,

We return where I’d begun

As the many turn to one.

By Liam Aġius.

The post Poetry | ‘Myself, Divided’ by Liam Agius appeared first on Universe of Faith.

1.      You have been pursuing painting and poetry for quite a while now, what role, if any, has faith played in your journey? i.e., have you ever had any moments of spiritual doubt – and if so, what role has Art played in all this?

Sarah: I think that faith has always been combined with my poetry in some way. I have a tendency of writing vulnerable pieces, directly from the heart. Since my faith is important to me, I find myself writing about my struggles with God, my doubts, the times I don’t understand what He is doing in my life and reflecting about who He is and what He has done. I also think that writing about my faith gives me the opportunity to remind myself of why I believe in God and my journey in discovering who He is.

Mark: With Sarah, I’d say that art is a good opportunity to express myself, what I am going through, and what I want to say other than in words. But touching on the point of spiritual doubt, certainly, I too passed through moments of doubt which eventually led to moments of spiritual crisis. Jesus had his own people – who saw Him and who could hear Him speak – that still doubted Him. It is essentially more difficult for us who do not see him physically – Jesus himself noted this with His words to Thomas, “because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

Jesus understands our need for evidence, and he is willing to provide it if we ask for it with a humble heart! But believe me, you will find your strength where you least expect it – the secret is to pray, keep believing, and keep pushing through, a day at a time.

2.       Do you think that Art and Faith closely relate to each other? If so, how?

Mark: For me, art and faith have been two distinctive areas in my life, but as I took my faith more seriously, creating art gave me the ‘quiet space’ necessary to be by myself and with God. Art is not just about grabbing a paintbrush and finishing a painting – at first, I used to feel the urge to finish a drawing/painting the same day I started it, and obviously, I would usually end up making a mess. I realized this is a replication of anything in life – including faith. I encourage anyone to be patient with themselves, with the process, with life, and to trust in God’s guiding presence.

Sarah: I agree with Mark. Poetry requires a lot of introspection so I cannot help but reflect when I want to draw inspiration or meaning. I think that struggling through questions of life, about God, and also battling doubts is closely linked to the words of the art I make, because it allows me to filter through the many thoughts and make sense of them.

I even find myself expressing my gratitude, praise, and thanks to God through poetry. I’m very inspired by the Psalms which were in fact songs of praise and poems that expressed every feeling one could have, including despair, disappointment, loneliness, anger, joy, peacefulness and more. I find that the images, parallelisms, and interpretations of King David allow me to formulate my own expression of my faith in poetry, just as he did.

3.       How has Art affected the way you experience Advent?

Sarah: As a creative person, I think that having themes of writing (i.e., themes such as Advent) helps to inspire me in a specific way, providing direction to my thoughts. I cannot help but see signs during Advent and attributing meaning to them. There is something within me that allows this to happen naturally, so I think that experiencing Advent as a writer means adapting the thought process to extract meaning from everything related to this season and developing it into a relatable manner for readers to know how it impacts me and how it could impact them too! That’s also what I tried to do with this poem! (See Sarah’s poem below).

4.       How can Art – any form of Art – help us during the Advent season?

Mark: Over the years, artists always loved including symbols and hidden messages in their artworks – be it Leonardo Da Vinci, Van Gogh, Salvador Dali, and the rest of the greats.

The creative process or the birth of an idea requires patience and waiting. And waiting can be daunting, we do not feel comfortable with that feeling of anticipation! I can relate this to the Advent season because we know something good is coming but Advent gives us the time to re-compose ourselves and wait. And waiting nowadays is something scarce – we want everything now, today, this minute. But I realized that in waiting we learn a lot about ourselves, our surroundings, what makes us comfortable, and we learn to appreciate just standing still. It is in this moment that we really feel vulnerable, alone, and possibly lonely; but it is also in this moment that we can start loving ourselves again, and it is the perfect opportunity to experience the love of God. This is a beautiful form of Art – and it makes Advent itself a form of Art.

So, this Advent, let yourself be made into Art! Allow yourself to wait, to hope, to receive God’s intimate love! 

Holy Cave

I walk in complete darkness as if
the star in the sky is leading me astray
rather than urging me to clasp
my hands to pray.

I long to know that what I’m striving for
will be met by an open door;
stepping blindly into the unknown,
I’m comforted I’m not alone.

While I look for the pieces within me
that seem to be missing,
that seem to be lost,
my heart waits, counting the gaping holes,
the emptiness,
calculating the cost.

Following my heart has never been easy,
knowing I am doing what is right,
and the response within me remains a battle
that would now rather be fight than flight.

When the longing, the yearning,
the patience, the zeal,
bring me to a quiet place, a holy cave,
finally, I am free to open my hands

and heal.

by Sarah Zammit Munro

Read More: 

– “I Waste so Much Time” – Getting Over Guilt of Wasted Time

– Finding Time for God

The post The 𝑨𝒓𝒕 of Becoming – what does Art have to do with Advent? appeared first on Universe of Faith.