All my life I have driven across the great Mississippi River. The sunsets and sunrises are brilliant from these arched frames of cement and metal reaching across a vast flowing river. My dad always has a way of asking a question before he says something moving and profound. One of these crossings, he said:
"Do you know who the greatest artist is, Betsy?" "Who?" "God is the greatest artist."
“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” (Gn 1:31)
"None can sense more deeply than you artists, ingenious creators of beauty that you are, something of the pathos with which God at the dawn of creation looked upon the work of his hands. A glimmer of that feeling has shone so often in your eyes when—like the artists of every age—captivated by the hidden power of sounds and words, colours and shapes, you have admired the work of your inspiration, sensing in it some echo of the mystery of creation with which God, the sole creator of all things, has wished in some way to associate you." Letter to artist's Pope John Paul II
And as the oil encroaches upon all that God has rendered in the Gulf of Mexico and it destroys entire ecosystems of salt marsh, fresh marsh and wetlands, it hurts my heart that man could treat the Father's creation so ignorantly. All of the diversity of life within the areas affected will take many years to be replenished. Let us pray for the Father Creator's guidance to fix the mess man has made.
