"Just now, even more than before the war, I feel the need to be in the cities among my fellow men. This is where our place is. We must take part in the whole misery that is to come. We must surrender our heart and nerves to the dreadfull screems or pain of the poor dissillusioned people...our superflous, self-filled existance can now be motivated only by giving our fellow men a picture of their fate and this can be done only if you love them." --Max Beckmann p32

from the book Max Beckmann by De Peter Howard Selz, Max Beckmann, Harold Joachim, Perry Townsend Rathbone

J. Micheal Walker began searching for the connections between the saints whose names became the streets names of Los Angeles and what is happening on those streets today. He found the street named for the patron saint of wanderers,San Julian Street, had a large homeless population. Through presence on the 100 some streets of Los Angeles, J. Micheal Walker, meeting those inhabiting the physical spaces and researching the Saints Walker pulls together a rich set of contemplative pieces.

He has some sample stories on his site.

Here is a video of his reading a section of his book which describes his process.




J. Michael Walker, All the saints of the city of the angels LA-IP 2008 from LA-IP on Vimeo.

I have never met Tuna but he is a friend of many Word Made Flesh staff who live in or have visited Calcutta. He loves to draw friends on napkins as they eat together. Here are some of the drawings he had done of Chris Heuertz over the years. As we look at more and more photographs I appreciate the vitality and the magic of drawing. In a few lines with a ball point pen on a napkin a human person appears. It is a record of an intimate dinner conversation. The pen is the sensitive instrument able to carry a pulse and the tender humanity of the person holding it.

Trumpeting Frog

Nina Sinca is back at our drop in center for the summer. She has one more year of art school left. This piece is trying to get at the power and nature of information.

'Nina in her studio'

Capcana Luminii 'Light Trap' Photography show 2008

Robin Fowler inspired me with her photos last year and gave me the idea that more people need to see her work. We found public space at the Cultural Centers Gallery and we invited our friend Dan Burlacu a local high school art teacher to present photos with us.

Take a look at Robins Work in our show we titled 'Light Trap'

Here are my (Joel's) contribution to 'Light Trap'.



The show opened with a short introduction by the new Art Guild director who is speaking in the picture. Then an art critic from the Modern Art Museum of Galati presented at length the exhibit as a whole and then took each artist in turn and discussed each.



The museum director spoke of a delight that the photos represented to him a return to nature and sensitive use and limitation of color and composition. I was proud to present Robin to the small crew gathered as a first time appearance in an official way in the art world in Galati. I am glad she was able to hear from the museum critic that her work is great.

Here is the 'prayer rug' we have made while praying for the other Word Made Flesh fields who all sent clothes which have intersected with their communities among the poor in some way. It has taken two years to finish. All the individual pieces of cloth are held together by a single unbroken string made for tying fishing nets. It remains in the middle of the chapel as a reminder to us of the presence of Christ and of His presence in the poor among us around the world. We are only a small part of all that Christ is pulling together.

Here is a sketchbook page I did while watching the kids making art. Below is a blog entry of Chris Heuertz the Word Made Flesh International director... he has a new book out called, Simple Spirituality: Learning to See God in a Broken World

Rabia of Basra

Last month Liz was carrying around this pretty red book. At some point, her and Phileena popped that thing open and the next thing I knew, I was the proud co-owner of a copy of Love Poems From God: Twelve Voices from the East and the West.

Since then Phileena had been savoring the pages and referencing the poems. On more than one occasion Phileena has shared verses from Rabia of Basra or Rabi’a al-Adawiyya al-Qaysiyy.

Rabia’s tale is one of the most heart-breaking and compelling stories I’ve heard in a long, long time.

Rabia lived during the 8^th century in ancient Iraq. She was the youngest of 4 daughters in a very poor, but respectable family. As a young girl her father died, and eventually Rabia was not only separated from her parents but her sisters as well.

She was left wandering and vulnerable.

Known to possess captivating beauty, some biographers tell that Rabia was captured and sold at a considerably high price as a slave to one of the most famous brothels of her day. There she was imprisoned until she was nearly 50 years old.

Reflecting on the torment of her sexual slavery she wrote,

“What a place for trials and transformation did my Lover put me, but never once did He look upon me as if I were impure. Dear sisters, all we do in this world, whatever happens, is bringing us closer to God.”

Her poems are simple, her prayers moving, her life recognized as a saint in the Sufi tradition. Rabia spent her life suffering as a contemplative mystic, faithful to her faith through the exploitation of her sexuality.In the introduction to her section of poems in the book, the translator Daniel Ladinsky concludes with this quote from her writings,

“Show me where it hurts, God said, and every cell in my body burst into tears before His tender eyes. He has repaid me though for all my suffering in a way I never wanted: The sun is now in homage to my face, because it knows I have seen God. But that was not His payment. The soul cannot describe His gift. I just spoke about the sun like that because I like beautiful words, and because it’s true: Creation is in homage to use.”