Brother Edmond Ongoma Juma is a novice at the Xaverian Brothers’ International Novitiate in Kipushi, Congo (DRC). He is a skilled artist who rediscovered, through exercises as a postulant, his passion for creating art. In the clip below, Brother Edmond discusses the similarities between the creative process and prayer.
Transcript: “The fundemental this about this [art & prayer] is to understand yourself.And I think, as human beings, this is what God asks us to do; that you should be aware of yourself. And now this–when you are aware of yourself–this is the love you can extend to others.
“One thing that I can say about the importance of art is that it gives you the ability to be attentive. Because for you to come out with something…crucial, something that people can look at, something that can produce the image that you want, you should be very attentive on what you are doing. This helps you in the prayer life too. Because in the prayer life you need to be attentive, you need to listen from what is deep within you.
“For you to come up with something perfect you shall make sure everything, your mind, your thinking, your sight is there. You should be aware of what is going on around you. Especially what is going [on] within your mind to produce that perfect thing that you’d like to present. And, again, I can say this quality is true to the prayer life; that when you are praying for something you should be aware that truly God is listening to this. And what I’m saying is what I mean.
“This is how we can express our love to other people.”