Seattle and God's mercy

I am at Seattle University (a small Jesuit college) taking my second icon course of the year. This is the course that Charles, my mentor, is teaching. It is a very different course than my last with the context, theology and spiritual aspects of the icon taking center stage for these first two days. Tomorrow we will be attending a Byzantine Catholic mass (my first!) where icons are incorporated in the worship much like the Orthodox Church. The course has been great so far- Charles is doing a wonderful job. And, I am sharing a table with a neat Jesuit priest who also happens to be a great artist- Arturo!

I am experiencing God's mercy in that the icon Charles chose for us to work on is the Korsun Mother of God, a variant of the Tenderness Mother of God. Many of you know that my mother is turning 80 this month (July 21) and our family will be celebrating this even down in Whittier on July 22. I feel it is a way that I can deepen my prayer for my mom and continue to be connected to her. Also, I plan to give my mom the icon and have it at the party and as she receives the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick with the whole family present (please pray as I continue to try and arrange this long distance). I think I would have felt more guilty about going straight to this course from Hawaii if we were painting a different icon or at least felt more of a disconnect. In fact, I thought Charles might pick the Holy Face to paint. I am so thankful and look forward to the week and seeing the icon emerge. Please pray for me.

I am staying in the dorms and am really grateful for that. I was trying to arrange more affordable housing off campus, but I feel so much more a part of things being here. It also makes it so I can focus fully on the program and not be dealing with commuting logistics. Charles and I get to have a lot more time together as well since he is being housed in the dorms, too. God's mercy is evident here as well in that I am paying for a double, but have no roommate because no one else requested a double. There are a couple of conferences and other classes happening on campus this week. Praise God for His leading.

Last night (Friday) we had intro and orientation, today we started work on two panels. One with natural gesso which we will work on all week and one with acrylic gesso which should be finished tomorrow. We will be painting the icon in acrylic- a first for me. As we go along, there are natural waiting periods as things dry etc. and in these times, Charles lectures and shows slides. I'm digging it. I am the only one that has painted icons before, there are some accomplished artists and some with no art background at all.

Alex is with the kids at Uncle Russ's (the best!) in LA. He is attending the wedding of a good friend Mary Sue Heilemann whose brother is married to Tammy Fong. Please pray for Alex and the boys.