NOTES FOR TEACHERS - CHRISTMAS 2003

RESILIENCE (page 8)

This edition of Australian Catholics has several examples of people who displayed resilience in the face of adversity that Anne Deveson outlines for us so clearly in her book Resilience. The two artists, David Rastas and Sheila Humphries, used their art and their faith in God to help them over difficult times.

Eugene and Theresa Chwalko, World War II refugees from the Ukraine, who had endured the hardship of slave labour in Germany and the long and arduous process of settling into a new country about which they knew very little, were sustained by their deep and manifest faith. Maureen Flanagan, put into an orphanage at an early age, refused to let hardship and failure quench the hope she held in her heart.

Anne Deveson uses Primo Levi as an example of resilience in her book. Levi was imprisoned in Auchschwitz, a Nazi concentration camp because he was Jewish and had criticised the fascist government of Mussolini. He was determined to survive the war and to bear witness to the sufferings of the people in the camps. The depth of his resolve is expressed in a poem he wrote after returning home to Italy:

If This is a Man

You who live safe
In your warm houses,
You who find, returning in the evening,
Hot food and friendly faces:
Consider if this is a man
Who works in the mud
Who does not know peace
Who fights for a scrap of bread
Who dies because of a yes or a no.
Consider if this is a woman
Without hair and without a name
With no more strength to remember,
Her eyes are empty and her womb cold
Like a frog in winter.
Meditate that this came about:
I commend these words to you.
Carve them in your hearts
At home, in the street,
Going to bed, rising;
Repeat them to your children.

On his return home Levi spent much of his time reporting on the horrors of the camps and the triumphant humanity of some fellow sufferers. He tells the story of one incident when he was trying to remember the words of the Canto of Ulysses from Dante’s Inferno. Suddenly the words come back to him “like the blast of a trumpet, like the voice of God”:

Think of your breed; for brutish ignorance
Your mettle was not made; you were made men,
To follow after knowledge and excellence.

ACTIVITIES
The students might find it helpful to read the article about Anne Deveson’s book, and in groups of four design a poster on the topic of resilience. Some material that might be included:

• Problems causing the lack of resilience in young people;
• The need for confidence in problem solving; some examples of people who have overcome difficulties in their lives;
• Inspirational sayings e.g. ‘life is not necessarily a matter of holding good cards but of being helped to play a poor hand well’;
• A symbol of what resilience might mean to you.

MY MONASTERY IS SILVER (page 14)

Terry Monagle in this article, listening to the news in the early morning with its unrelenting account of catastrophes and suffering, wonders whether there can be a God in a world like that. Everyday life with its insistent demands can exhaust us into wondering where God fits into a cluttered day. Many of us would confine our contact with God to moments of serenity in dedicated places or as part of a communal liturgy.

A recent edition of Compass on ABC TV, in a segment on the Quakers’ School in Hobart showed a roomful of young students of the school practising a time of silence, an inspiring sight. It was, we were told, a time of listening for what God might have to say rather than the outpouring of words and requests that many of us associate with meaningful prayer. It is almost as if we model of God on the child’s notion of Father Christmas, a long list of desired presents, followed by a promise to be good! The idea of seeking the presence of God in silence and of allowing God to speak to us would provide a restful oasis in the midst of daily life.

Terry Monagle tells us how he manages to fit prayer into his everyday life. He, like the people at the Hobart Quakers’ School, consciously sets aside a time and place for prayer thus allowing his ordinary activities to be blessed with the presence of God. As Karl Rahner says in his book, Happiness Through Prayer it is God’s “holy will that the little things also should live and that He should be glorified in the insignificant monotonies of daily life.”

ACTIVITIES
Students might like to read the article and then enter into their journals a plan for how they will fit prayer into their daily lives. Some may wish to share with the class their favourite prayer place. It probably will not be the train or school bus!

They might then like to discuss Elijah’s encounter with God as described in the Book of Kings1,19: 11-12. It is interesting to compare the translations of verse 12b

The session might end with a short time of prayer.

PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST AS BELIEVER (page 6)
THE PAINTINGS OF SHEILA (page 22)

The understanding that art is a spiritual experience that somehow brings us closer to our deepest religious feelings is one that many find helpful. In this edition of Australian Catholics there are two articles that examine the connection between religion and art from the artist’s point of view.

David Rastas, in Portrait of the Artist as a Believer, carries us into the heart of his experience as a creator of art. He speaks of the sense of mystery and awe he feels in the presence of great art and the true significance of the artistic enterprise. He expresses his interest in ‘finding ways to express his experience of God through art’, describing his time in Central Australia learning about the spiritual aspect of Aboriginal art and of his stay in a Finnish Orthodox monastery—where he discovered that the monks use the wellspring of contemplation to inspire them as they paint icons.

Another artist to appear in this edition of Australian Catholics is an Aboriginal woman who is artist-in-residence at the Western Australian town of New Norcia, Sheila Humphries. Her paintings reflect her childhood spent in St Joseph’s ‘orphanage’ for Aboriginal girls. Athough she was removed from her family forcibly, her paintings do not express the bitterness that might be expected, but instead speak of the healing, reconciliation and faith which her art has brought her.

ACTIVITIES

• Students might like to read these two articles and then join in a short discussion that might look at their own experience of art. Or they could consider that creation, performance and viewing are three ways of experiencing art; and ask which is the most challenging or satisfying and why?
• Working in pairs, students might be asked to go to the library and choose a painting on which they will be required to give a report to the class. Some points to consider:

What story does the painting tell?
What season does the painting show and how does this affect the viewer’s response?
What is the mood of the painting and what feelings does it evoke in the viewer?
What does the painting have to say about life in our times?
If you could speak to her/him, what would you like to say about the painting?

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