The Personal Website of Richard H. Gross, MTS

Christ is the Light of Nations

Considering the Lay Artist’s Role in the Church in Terms of
the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church: Lumen Gentium

by Richard Gross

“Christ is the Light of nations” proclaims the opening sentence of Lumen Gentium, the Roman Catholic Church’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church.  “Because this is so,” continues the document, “this Sacred Synod gathered together in the Holy Spirit eagerly desires, by proclaiming the Gospel to every creature, to bring the light of Christ to all men, a light brightly visible on the countenance of the Church.”

The mission “to bring the light of Christ to all men” can – and in fact, must – be undertaken in diverse ways. The Holy Spirit brings diverse gifts[1] to enable the spread of the Good News of Christ because there are diverse ways in which that Good News can be received by human beings. The Light of Christ, eternal and universal, must be communicated in many ways through the grace of the Spirit’s many gifts if it is to be communicated effectively.

Certainly, there is no light brighter than the light of Christ, who is God Incarnate, and “from whom all good things come.”[2] Further, the wisdom of the words of St. Francis to “preach the Gospel always; when necessary, use words” has long been recognized. In short, there are many routes by which the light of Christ may be proclaimed “to every creature” and many ways in which men can encounter and come to realize the eternal truth contained within that Light.

Holy Mother Church has long recognized the value of art in proclaiming the Gospel and understood that through art many are called to the universal truths of the Church. One might wonder what role the Sacred Synod of the Second Vatican Council sees the lay artist fulfilling; the Council’s document Lumen Gentium offers great insight into the nature of that roll.

“As all the members of the human body, though they are many, form one body, so also are the faithful in Christ,” proclaims Lumen Gentium.[3] “Also, in the building up of Christ’s Body various members and functions have their part to play. There is only one Spirit who, according to His own richness and the needs of the ministries, gives His different gifts for the welfare of the Church.” The Sacred Synod in its holy wisdom understood clearly that the various members of the Body of Christ have important roles in the functioning of that Body. They saw that there are a multitude of gifts, but that the proper functioning of these gifts is in service to the welfare of the Church.

The Sacred Synod further understood that “there are certain things which pertain in a special way to the laity, both men and women, by reason of their condition and mission.”[4] The Council Fathers here defined laity in slightly different terms than are commonly used; while laity is usually understood to mean the non-ordained Catholic and includes those non-ordained in holy orders, the Council Fathers, by their definition, were addressing specifically those in “secular” life: the Catholic who daily lives and works in the secular world. The Council Fathers wrote “The term laity is here understood to mean all the faithful except those in holy orders and those in the state of religious life specially approved by the Church. These faithful are by baptism made one body with Christ and are constituted among the People of God; they are in their own way made sharers in the priestly, prophetical, and kingly functions of Christ; and they carry out for their own part the mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the world.”[5]

In short, the Council Fathers saw that “What specifically characterizes the laity is their secular nature.”[6] Clearly, these holy men saw the value in the laity’s ability to bear witness to the Light of Christ as they “seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them according to the plan of God.”[7]

Among the laity, then, there is a smaller subgroup composed of those who are by vocation artists. This subgroup itself could be further subdivided into three categories; those artists who create liturgical art exclusively; those artists who create liturgical art occasionally; those artists who create liturgical art not at all.

The term “liturgical art” is understood to mean art in service of liturgy. The Catechism of the Catholic Church state of liturgy that “The word ‘liturgy’ originally meant a ‘public work’ or a ‘service in the name of/on behalf of the people.’ In Christian tradition it means the participation of the People of God in ‘the work of God.’”[8] The Catechism goes on to state that “In the New Testament the word ‘liturgy’ refers not only to the celebration of divine worship but also to the proclamation of the Gospel and to active charity. In all of these situations it is a question of the service of God and neighbor.”[9] Liturgical art, then, is a public work intended to advance the work of God – to spread the Light of Christ and to proclaim the Gospel to all creatures – that is created in the name of or on the behalf of the people of God.

The holy fathers of the Second Vatican Council under the guidance of the Holy Spirit wrote in reference to the laity in general that “Whoever they are they are called upon, as living members, to expend all their energy for the growth of the Church and its continuous sanctification, since this very energy is a gift of the Creator and a blessing of the Redeemer.”[10] They further taught that “Upon all the laity, therefore, rests the noble duty of working to extend the divine plan of salvation to all men of each epoch and in every land. Consequently, may every opportunity be given them so that, according to their abilities and the needs of the times, they may zealously participate in the saving work of the Church.”[11]

Though the council fathers were speaking of the laity in general, certainly what applies to all of the laity applies with equal certainty to specific subgroups within the laity. Therefore, for the lay artist, the call to create liturgical art is not a special privilege reserved to the few, but a “noble duty” to which all are called. Further, the council fathers call upon the Church as a whole to recognize that “every opportunity” must be given to the artist to “zealously participate in the saving work of the Church.”

It is very important to note that a “noble duty” is not the same thing as a “holy right” and that “zealous [participation] in the saving work of the Church” does not extend as far as the ability to dictate what that saving work actually is. The artist creating liturgical art must still be able to focus his talent such that what is created is actually art that can truly serve and advance the saving work of the Church; the council fathers of the Second Vatican Council are not giving artists license to redecorate their parishes on a whim.

Instead, the council fathers are offering artists something profoundly significant: the clear call that it is their noble duty to use their talents to address the specific needs of the Church in its holy work. This frequently calls for a modification to the traditional and almost embarrassingly stereotypical artist’s temperament of an individual artist creating fine art according to an individual style. Art that is to advance the saving work of the Church must address the needs of the Church, and the Church is the Body of Christ, composed of many diverse individual Christians.

The artist creating liturgical art does not have the luxury of an “either you get it or you don’t” mentality. The finest liturgical art is not created in arrogance by an individual who tries to bleed for Christ, but rather in humility by a person who realizes that Christ bled for him.

Lumen Gentium calls the artist to a noble duty in the service of the Body of Christ; it calls the artist to a participation in the brining of the Light of Christ to all men. This is a task in which all artists should be honored to participate. It takes great talent and considerable skill to create worthy art; these talents and skills are among the good things mentioned in the third Eucharistic Prayer that praises Christ as the source “from whom all good things come.”

Since Christ is the source of these goods – these talents and skills – it is self-evident that it is right to praise Christ through the application of these skills and talents in the service of Christ and of His Holy Church. The council fathers saw that there are many good things that can and do come from the laity in advancing the saving work of the Church. In their holy wisdom, they enshrined in the Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church a clear call to artists and to all laity to address their noble duty to, through their many diverse talents and gifts, “to bring the light of Christ to all men, a light brightly visible on the countenance of the Church.”
 

[2] These words, “from Whom all good things come,” are a part of Eucharistic Prayer III, which is one of the approved texts used in the Holy Mass.

[3] Lumen Gentium 7

[4] Lumen Gentium, 30

[5] Ibid., 31

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1069

[9] Ibid., 1070

[10] Lumen Gentium, 33

[11] Ibid., 33