Letter from the Acting President January 2023
“What you are is God's gift to you, what you become is your gift to God.”
- Hans Urs von Balthasar
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Dear Reader,
Happy New Year! Over the holidays, I had the opportunity to visit The San Diego Museum of Art, located in the magnificent Balboa Park. After experiencing two contemporary exhibitions, I turned the corner to find one that was titled Art of Devotion, featuring works by leading Counter-Reformation artists such as Rubens, El Greco, and Zurbarán. I learned that during this period, painters composed masterworks that sought to inspire a feeling of devotion amongst viewers. This word – devotion – jumped out at me and I knew instantly that I would make it the focus of my January reflection.
As I gazed upon the dozens of 400-year-old paintings on display, I began to think about what devotion means to me, and how I express it. I asked myself, what am I truly devoted to? For me, devotion differs from similar concepts like dedication and loyalty in that it involves strong, core feelings such as love, care, and self-sacrifice. There is a certain emotional charge associated with devotion that is not as present in, say, commitment. In other words, I think it is possible to be dedicated and committed to something, but not devoted to it.
Because it carries strong emotions with it, devotion is something that can and should be expressed in many ways – through deeds, written and spoken words, the creative arts, and in relational terms. For example, many Christians engage in a daily devotional practice that involves a specific spiritual reading or prayer. In fact, you yourself may keep a daily devotional on your desk or at the bedside. Some of the most vivid acts of devotion I can recall involve growing up in Singapore and Malaysia, where I witnessed the vibrant Hindu Tamil festival of Thaipusam, in which devotees enter ecstatic states as they pray to God to receive his grace so that bad traits are eliminated. On this occation, thousands of people process through the streets declaring their devotion.
Devotion can inspire new understandings of life and direction. At the Institute, we frequently work with healthcare professionals who have devoted their lives to caring for those who are suffering in illness. The call to medicine that some experience goes beyond earning a living or attaining high social standing. Rather, it involves the relational, spirit-filled work of healing the whole person. Helping future healthcare professionals frame their work this way is of central importance to ISH because it positively impacts both patients and healthcare professionals, perhaps even transforming a job into a devotional act.
As the year begins, you may consider asking - what are you devoted to? How do you express your devotion? What new and creative ways might there be to do so?
With Warm Wishes this New Year,
Stuart
Stuart C. Nelson, MA
Acting President