PJ Smalley

Artist Statement

The sacramental worldview uses material reality to channel God’s divinity. The invisible is visible through beauty, order, and nature's intricate design. Perhaps the opposite (the ugly, poorly designed, or chaotic) can also show us God in the absence of such beauty. Knowing God through his creations. Mystagogy is a journey changing our perspective so we can see God all around us, in his ever-presence and in our aspiring to be more like Him. An orientation—a way of being and looking. The sacramental worldview is one way Catholics use scriptures to live them.

It’s 10 in the morning on a perfect October Saturday in Philadelphia. I am walking around with Shadow the rat terrier in tow. We are meandering through a former industrial neighborhood around 9th and Spring Garden. My initial thought is to look, walk, and listen with “fresh eyes.” I wait with anticipation as to what beauty might be received around this corner or down that block. The sacramental worldview is a symbolic worldview where something is saying something else. What will be shown?

Well, what do I see? There’s lots of trash, potholes, and urban decay. Next to it stands ugly, shoddy new construction that looks like cardboard boxes with grey vinyl siding. The average resident would not qualify to mortgage these future-condos. There are also several abandoned warehouses and garages. Turning down a small side street, two middle-aged men sit outside on their stoop. The narrowness of this block and the 100-year-old row homes cast dramatic shadows down the street.

Several row homes have thriving container gardens and flower boxes facing the street. One house with yellow lilies catches the light just so. Stopping to look, I act as if it is a sculpture made by God. To properly view a sculpture, a viewer moves close, steps back, and walks around to see it from different angles. I do this with the flower, moving from side to side. But it really becomes transparent by lowering myself a few inches. Suddenly, the light perfectly reveals the form of the lilies. I can see the structure under the petals, and the brick of the home changes from horizontal to a dramatic diagonal, perfectly echoing the cast shadows in a visual rhyme. It all begins to sing.

Maybe we are just seeds. Dormant. Sitting around for who knows how long. Are we even viable to grow into something? Maybe, maybe not. It takes cultivation. There is a proven method to cultivate a seed into a plant; we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. How much and for how long will these lilies live and grow? It’s not clear, but they are clearly oriented to the light and growing. Amen!