Search
-
September 14, 2023Every year, the Connecticut Catholic Men’s Conference calls Catholic men from all walks of life to come away to a spiritually quiet place, far from cacophony of chaos tht is our modern world, in order to reset, recharge, and rediscover their faith and their manly purpose in this world. We are treated to a day of prayer, authentic application of the sacraments, gifted speakers with a challenging message of hope, and most of all, a unique opportunity to reconnect with the Spirit inside us, drawing us into the artistry of Catholic living. It is a dynamic and delicate dance of transformation that few other events offer to men these days.
I was reminded recently of just what it means to have this holy calling, an exclusive and exceptional apostolate that God has ordained just for me. Oh, I am certainly not saying I am someone special; in fact, on my own, I am the least worthy to have any sort of role in the Kingdom of God. And yet, through God’s perfect and eternal love, poured out onto my life through the Holy Spirit, I have been given a gift to share that is solely my own. Of late, it feels like it has been lying dormant beneath layers of selfish sin, spiritual apathy, and fearful indifference to God’s heavenly appeal to serve as a soldier in his army of saints. But thanks be to God, that the everyday encounters with my fellow believers can break the shell of my hardened heart and show me what is possible when men look to the One who desires to create a wonderful work of art in their lives.
Meeting a True Catholic Artist
Over the summer I needed to bring my son Adam’s violin for repair to a violin maker working with the Connecticut Valley Symphony Orchestra. Adam was working that day, so I was happy to make the trip to Clinton, CT to hand off his instrument. There, I met an individual who exemplifies the true character of a Catholic man. Our casual conversation turned to a deep and meaningful dialogue when I noticed a beautiful painting of a young girl sitting on a worktable. I discovered that the painting was a rendering of this violin maker’s daughter that he himself had painted. As we continued our conversation, I learned the incredible story of this man’s ongoing journey of his Catholic faith.
Mark Langdale Hough has been perfecting his craft of violin making since the age of 17 when he was first apprenticed to a local artist, living six houses away from his home. This divinely-arranged meeting came out of a homeschool parent gathering; and Mark was set on a path that would forever change the way he looked at the world. As he put it:
“Just suddenly to have laid before me the path that I knew I was going to take was amazing, especially for something that required as much risk as trying to make a living as a woodworker required. I began my apprenticeship with Lawrence Wilke, a renowned cello maker; and personality-wise, we hit it off very well. I just loved everything I was learning. That's how I learned to become a detail person. It's a strange thing to go through life and realize that up until a certain point you were always skipping over the details of the world.”
The Divine in the Details as Beauty Begets Beauty
It was in this way of entering into the details of his craft, that Mark began to see more and more the beauty of every facet of his Catholic faith. Whereas before he had been focusing on the truths of what he believed, now the beauty of his artistry opened his eyes to see the “why” of his beliefs – the deeper meaning that served to motivate and direct his words and actions. It was an indescribable encounter with joy, for it pulled him deeper into the presence of God and his workings in the ordinary realm of everyday living.
This powerful experience of becoming led Mark one day to try his hand at painting. He simply decided to take a block of wood and paint two roses on it as a birthday gift for the woman who would soon become his wife and the mother of his children. He was amazed at how well the gift turned out; and this holy happenstance with yet another layer of beauty stirred in him a passion to create religious works of art to share his Catholic faith. It allowed him to take the powerful truths manifesting within him and fashion them into a holy calling to share the Gospel with others:
“I began to slowly realize the importance of beauty. And for me, beauty is something that takes the foundation of truth and makes it something that can then be expressed to others. Truth is like math facts. You're not going to draw people in with math facts. But beauty has the ability to take that truth and bring it to others in a way that they see the goodness of God.”
What made this experience of artistic transformation even more meaningful to Mark was that his bride-to-be, Faith, shared just as passionately in that vision. As his helpmate, she became an inspiration for a number of paintings of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and the Lady of Grace. Because of their deep love for each other and their connection to Christ in their marriage, Mark was able to rest in knowing that Faith understood on the deepest of levels just how she could step into the role of model for the Virgin Mary, and share a glimpse of the gentle nobility and holy humility of the Mother of God. His beautiful bride, ever willing to submit her spirit to God’s calling on her husband’s life, allowed Mark to express in a unique way through his paintings the beauty of truth that the Catholic Church has taught about Mary from the very beginning.
Love Spilling Out into Creative Acts of Living
The beauty of Christ present in his art and in his marriage has of course spilled out into the lives of Mark’s children. He and Faith see every day as a discovery, every moment as an opportunity for joy. Like artists working under the apprenticeship of the Holy Spirit, Mark and Faith pour themselves into the task of rearing godly children who will love their Catholic faith as much as they do. Every day, they choose to paint the love of Christ onto the canvas of each child God has given them. While Mark may not have all the answers as to how life will turn out for his children, he is often overwhelmed at the beauty that unfolds as he commits himself to sharing his love of learning and his passion for beauty with them:
“Art creates this feeling of going through life, not just as someone who has everything figured out, but as someone who's eager to discover more than they know. I want our kids to go through life that way, too – to be eager learners, with a desire to create and be creative and bring something into the world that wasn't there before. I mean, any parent who decides to have a child has experienced that step into the unknown – ‘What is this child going to be like?’ ‘What is our life going to be like?’ I don't want our kids to be afraid of that.”
Such a thoughtful approach to parenting has instilled in Mark and his wife a deep dependency on God, a firm foundation of trust that guides them as they teach their children. It has shown them the transformative nature of asking for forgiveness when they fail as parents, and of growing in grace from the lessons learned along the way. As Mark says:
“It's a good thing to be approved in situations where we're being stretched, as well as having those wonderful moments where we just go, ‘Everything's perfect – great.’ It feels very much like the spiritual life described by the Fathers of the church – that there's these moments of ecstasy where you're just so happy that everything is working out the way it is, like these inspirational moments of learning, where the kids all go down to the beach and they're just passionate about everything. They're discovering the water and the sun shining and you just go, ‘Thank you, Lord, for this.’”
Encounters with the Silence of Grace
In his everyday living, Mark finds ways to express extraordinary grace through the ordinary encounters he has with others, and the art he uses to share his Catholic faith with them. The essence of this grace comes in the silence that the beauty of art conveys to the soul. Mark believes that modern men are not as comfortable and connected to art because they cannot deal well with the silence that art demands of the heart. We often look for God in the grandiose rather than in the simple, all the while ignoring the overwhelming whisper of God’s still small voice that speaks powerfully through the ordinary circumstances of life:
“Dominicans have always had a tradition that the tools for meditation and the things that God puts before us allow us to find him everywhere around us. It requires us to be able to be quiet and to let ourselves enter that place where we want to talk and converse with God. That's something we want all our kids to know – to be able to know that quiet is important. It’s something that we're losing as men. Also, I think we have the added difficulty of that ‘goal oriented-ness’ – of feeling we have to have all our ducks in a row and we have to be aiming at each one every moment, every day.”
Mark sees in the power of his art, a holy reintroduction to the merits of grace that guide us as Catholic men toward the Kingdom of heaven. In the silent lessons that are spoken into his soul, God can work wonders, allowing him to live every moment where he is sharing in being a creator, birthing beauty and truth into the world to affect the lives of men. It is the call of every artist – and indeed, every man – that drives us ever forward along the narrow way:
“To me, to be a good artist requires you to learn to see the virtues that holiness requires. In fact, I think it was Pope John Paul II who wrote in his letter to the artist, that being an artist and being a saint run parallel paths – you have to learn the same virtues… I think everyone should try to find an area of life to experience being a creator, being someone who is actively putting something in the world that wasn't there. It's going to force us to learn virtues that we may not know we needed, or learn virtues that we may have struggled for a long time to learn.”
An Ordinary Man, Touched by Extraordinary Love
In the end, Mark does not see himself as someone who is particularly graced more than other men, but simply as a man who is open to the love of the Divine Artist who paints the palette of his love onto his heart. He is aware that the life he is called to lead may turn out quite differently than what he expected it to be. But there is absolute joy in surrendering to the grace of the One who knows how to fashion us into works of art that reflect the beauty of salvation to a weary world.
Mark sees his greatest contribution to the arts in his children; and for him, that gives the deepest meaning to his gifts as an artist, a husband, a father, and a Catholic man. It is comforting because it removes him from the spotlight and gives all the glory to God, who so graciously chooses to paint his love into the world through Mark’s words, actions, and godly creations.
“I feel like there's a good potential that my role in bringing beauty to the world might only be a very limited one; but I know that part of what I'm doing is bringing this idea of God's love being expressed through beauty to my kids. I can't know what ramification that's going to have. And the wonderful thing about being a father is you’ll never know what an amazing thing God can bring about from you, just being a good dad and being a good teacher and showing love to your kids and being the example of the Father to them. It’s an interesting place to be – to realize that my biggest success as an artist is going to be who my kids turn out to be. And again, that's not all in my hands. Thank goodness that's something that God is every day taking control of – and I just get to be a part of it.”
I can only pray that this powerful encounter with such a truly authentic Catholic man will stir my own artist’s heart to birth into the world works of beauty that touch men’s souls and lead them closer to Christ. I am grateful that the Divine Artist has not abandoned the canvas of my life, but continues to paint the colors of his truth onto my heart. I am grateful too for the many men I have encountered along the way at the Connecticut Catholic Men’s Conference – especially the leaders – who have shown me what being a genuine Catholic man is all about.
I pray that all Catholic men will take the time to search deep inside the silence of their souls to experience the virtue of love that can shape them into the masterpieces God has called them to be. I pray that you will look for opportunities at the Connecticut Catholic Men’s Conference – and indeed, in every encounter with other men – to find just how God is fashioning your life into a work of beauty that allows the Gospel to shine forth into the lives of others. If you would like to learn more about Mark and his beautiful artwork, I encourage you to visit his website at www.houghfineart.com.
