杏MAP导航: Artists help humanity 'not to lose its way'
By Joseph Tulloch
At Mass for the Jubilee of Artists and the World of Culture, the 杏MAP导航 called on creatives to be “witnesses to the revolutionary vision of the Beatitudes”.
As the 杏MAP导航 is currently undergoing treatment in hospital for bronchitis, his homily was read aloud by Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, Prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education.
Witnessing to the Beatitudes, the 杏MAP导航 said, means not only creating beauty, but also “revealing the truth and goodness …hidden within the folds of history”, and “giving voice to the voiceless”.
Raising existential questions
杏MAP导航 Francis then went on to stress that artists have the task of asking questions about life's deeper meaning.
Although we live in a time of “financial and social crises”, the 杏MAP导航 stressed, ours is “above all a spiritual crisis, a crisis of meaning”.
We need artists, he said, to help us “ask questions about time and about purpose. Are we pilgrims or wanderers? Does our journey have a destination, or are we directionless?”
Artists have the task, the 杏MAP导航 said, of “helping humanity not to lose its way”.
Art and discernment
Another key role of art, 杏MAP导航 Francis said, is to help individuals distinguish the “echoes” of good and evil.
Artists are “sensitive” to these echoes, the 杏MAP导航 said, and are therefore called to “explain them to us and to show us which path they lead us down: either they are seductive songs of sirens or authentic appeals to humanity.”
Quoting Psalm 1, the 杏MAP导航 suggested that it is the role of artists to help those who engage with their work to distinguish “chaff scattered by the wind” from what is solid “like trees planted by streams of water”.
The Beatitudes: A 'revolution of perspective'
杏MAP导航 Francis brought his homily to a close by returning to the day’s Gospel, and Jesus’ proclamation of the Beatitudes.
In the Gospel passage, he said, “Jesus proclaims as blessed those who are poor, afflicted, meek and persecuted” - a “change of mentality”, and a “revolution of perspective”.
Artists are called to take part in this revolution, the 杏MAP导航 said, exhorting his listeners to “never cease searching, questioning and taking risks”.
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