What Is This All About?

I Might be a craftsman and some might even call me an artist. But first I am Catholic Husband and a Father. I struggle to find a work/ life balance, I stumble through and miss my daily prayers, but I want to be a Saint. I found that images which were supposed to inspire me to this life did not. I noticed that there were no images that clearly articulated the masculine struggle. Most men do not want to pray. 

Art is meant to be an ideal. An ideal to be emulated. And all I saw in the churches was overly sentimental and effeminate images.

It was cheap fan art for people that simply admired the life of Christ, Mary and His saints.  

 My spiritual life to me was a battle first. And I did not see any warriors images in our churches. I saw ambiguously gendered angles, and Christ with a woman's hands. Old Man Saint Joseph, with a bouquet of flowers. Rosey Cheeks and longing looks. 

Now I can get very scholarly, and explain to you the complex issues of aesthetics, and start lecturing you on the lost symbolic language that nobody understands, and that was largely done away with after the Renaissance. How Church Decoration and the Canons organizing it were abandoned for the banal community centers we have seemed to be only capable of generating in the past century. 

But check out my Substack if you are interested in the Brainy side of things.  

 

Lets simplify.

 I want images that ground me in a masculine spirituality. Images that inspire me to be a Saint. 

I want my son to grow up idolizing the great men that went before us, and gave their lives for the Faith. 

I want my Daughter to know that her guardian angel isn't some foppish pretty naked angel baby, but strong. That her guardian angel is her friend, and protector against evil. 

I want my Children to want vocations and see the glory in the lives of the saints. 

I want my Children To know that Christ did not just die on the Cross, But descended into hell to lay siege to Satan's Fortress and broke the devil himself. 

I use Ancient Symbolism, but i also try to use symbolism that is Intelligible to the Current Culture. My primary inspiration is the Spirituality of the Early Mideavel Church Found in Anglo Saxon England and Scandinavia. I Find the poetry and sorties and legend s of the saints of this time, inspiring. They think of Christ as the Warrior God. The warden of Heaven. This is the same Era that inspired Tolkien to write the Lord of the Rings. 

If you can get behind that, then support the cause. Help me E-MAN-gallize our Church. Help our Sons and Daughters to want this ancient Faith more then the very diverse Marvel heroes the world puts in front of them. Lets go to War. Lets Fight the Good Fight. 

 

CRUX STAT

-Joe Maki