I spent a week in Belize earlier this year. I was there, in part, to offer a spiritual writing workshop. About 15 lay leaders from the community in Belize City gathered for two days to reflect both on how God was at work in their personal stories and how God might be inviting each of us to share those stories for God’s greater glory and the good of all people.
Belize is a young country, having gained independent in 1981. While I was there, the country was in the midst of an ongoing process of constitutional reform. There was a real sense of responsibility for and engagement in the future of Belize. I felt this commitment from the native Belizeans I met, as well as from the American Jesuits who were my hosts.
To that end, whether at a conscious level or not, the spiritual writing workshop took on an added layer of meaning: What did it mean to live as a Belizean formed in the Ignatian tradition in this moment in the country’s history? What did it mean to be both Catholic and Belizean, and how might that intersection of identities serve the wider community?
Fr. Brian Christopher — the Jesuit superior and our host — preached at the Mass that concluded our writing workshop. He invited all of us gathered together to reflect on the role that creativity plays in the charting of a nation’s future.
I asked him to share more on that point in an interview we conducted later on during that same trip. What was the role of art and artists — broadly defined — in the story of a nation? How does creativity shape our societies?
“You’re able to look around and see something vibrant, something beautiful, something lifegiving, even in the toughest of circumstances,” Brian told me. “That’s a unique contribution that artists are able to make to any society. They’re able to see underneath the surface, and I would say to glimpse the soul, to articulate what that soul of the nation is.”
I’m struck by what Brian said and by what I experienced in Belize. In a small, young country undergoing concrete constitutional reforms, Brian’s words have immediate relevance. And yet, I think for each of us — whether we consider ourselves artists in a traditional sense or simply treasure the opportunity to be creative — this invitation to grapple with the future of our society and our community through creative acts and initiatives is important.
Ours is a God who creates, who makes something new and lifegiving out of darkness and desolation. We are made in the image and likeness of that same God; we are tasked with rummaging about in the dark, cold spaces of our own lives and imagining with boldness what might yet be.
Belize is a particular place. Spiritual writing is a particular craft. But in the specificity of another’s life and work, we begin to see the value and meaning of our own. And so, I invite you to journey to Belize. Spend time with the video below and the two-part podcast series that highlights the creative energies at work in the Belizean context.
And then, re-center yourself in your own particular time and place. How is God asking you to be creative in this moment? How might your creative spirit serve God’s greater glory and the good of all people?
