October 28, 2005
A friend of the friars from Montreal wrote us an interesting letter. Evidently his girlfriend purchased some wall plaques from a website that he described as “evil and creepy”. He wanted her to take them back saying, “Spirits can attach themselves to things”, an opinion she scoffed at. He requested we look at the website, but the friars are not “on line”. Rosann, our woman behind the scenes, took a look for us but the text was all in French. However, the photos were of dragons and daggers and gargoyles. Rosann remarked with a chuckle, “Put it this way, I wouldn’t buy anything there for my mother”.
I was almost happy to hear that Rosann couldn’t read the text. In fact, she didn’t have to because pictures, symbols, and even certain typesets convey feelings. Whoever designed the stop sign didn’t use Elizabethan script with a lavender background; while wedding and certainly sympathy cards are inscribed as with an elegant quill pen. When Adolph Hitler designed the famous “swastika”, he knew exactly the message he wanted to convey – and without one word!
Masterpieces in music and art speak a universal language that everyone, including the illiterate, understands and greatly admires. With just a few strokes or stanzas, the heart is moved sometimes to tears. Great art, in fact, moves us well beyond words into what can simply be called “wonder”. Perhaps an art historian would spend hours studying Michelangelo’s “Pieta”, but the rest of us could spend hours in awe. God, who is the Divine artist who only makes masterpieces, brings us to wonder when we gaze at an almost endless ocean or star splashed night sky.
It is important that we acknowledge the power that images convey. Indeed, an entire fashion industry is built upon the innate desire for us to claim and communicate a certain image. Accessories have become a multi-million dollar business because people don’t want a watch to tell time, but to tell people, “I’m a success”. Remember when you went to buy sunglasses at the drugstore so you wouldn’t squint at the beach? Today, it’s more about looks than mere looking. That’s why a guy will pay over a hundred dollars for a pair of glasses – just to look like a jet pilot. I suspect Cartier sells some that cost just a little less than the jet!
So, what about our friend in Canada? Do you think he’s over-reacting and leaning a little too far to the right? While I have not seen the plaques, I would say that I agree with him. As wonderful works of art evoke a sense of wonder within us, what would sinister and foreboding images evoke? I would also be so bold as to say that a person who is not in a state of grace will be “sensory confused”, meaning they will be attracted to things that will only bring disquiet to the emotions. If unchecked, these things would also lead to the ultimate destruction – that is, to one’s relationship with God. A person who is very sick gets nauseated when delicious food is placed on the table before them.
The question whether or not objects can be used for an evil purpose has already been answered by the experts – they certainly can. I have no idea about these plaques, but from what was described to me over the phone, the website from which they were purchased indicated some connection to the occult. Rosann doesn’t read French, but one word she readily recognized was “Wicca”. Those who are involved in liberating people from evil oppression tell us that objects are sometimes used to “infect” others. Just as people are advised to wash their hands to stop the spread of germs, at times a priestly blessing may be in order – just in case!
When a person is getting engaged or married, they don’t get a rams head or coiled serpent ring, rather, they buy a beautiful and delicate diamond ring. Sweet smelling flowers, not stinkweeds, are offered to those we care for. Lovers tenderly gaze at the moon – not at tornadoes. Yes, as music can soothe the savage beast, art can do the same; but both can also make it angrily claw the cage.
Fr. Glenn Sudano, CFR
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