See Carmel Through the Eyes of Love!
Original Artwork by Rhyta Rounds - Chapel in Sunlight
There is a saying: “The one who works with his hands is a laborer; the one who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman; but the one who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist”.
The heart and head and hands of a number of women and men were at work here at the Carmelite Monastery last summer, and the fruits of their labors will be on view next Sunday, Nov. 5th, at the Raritan Township Municipal Building from Noon to 4:00 pm.
You can get a glimpse of their artwork, and I hope that you will be as impressed as we were when we saw the slideshow! Yes, the weather was wonderful when they were here, and, yes, the landscaping around the monastery is beautiful, but Carmel is meant to be more than a beautiful piece of land. We Carmelites are called to express more than an artistic appreciation of this world and we want the part of our property open to the public to express our vocation to those who come here.
We are contemplative nuns, and we are called to pray down God’s light into the darkness of our pitiful world. We are rarely seen, but we try to express that call in all that we do and say and express.
The paintings and photographs of these gifted men and women reassure us that we have been successful. They show the beauty of the property and of the buildings, but they go beyond all surface impressions to show the eternal beauty shining through trees and plants and cinder blocks and windows. They hint at the challenges that our life entails: beauty stands forth, but it comes to birth through shadows and travail. Peace and joy are triumphant and yet always fragile and in need of care and support.
We nuns do not appear in the artworks, yet somehow the artists conveyed our presence and our life. As artists, they know that art is a gift from one person to another, offered from heart through hand to eyes and heart. With color, they have said what words cannot: they have expressed what our life is about, and in doing so, they have shown that they have that vision that sees beyond appearances. Even more than that, they show that they have the ability to express the invisible.
Sr. Gabriela of the Incarnation, O.C.D.