"You hear an old song and the face of a lost loved one suddenly appears, and in the space of the song the loved one grabs your loneliness by the collar and sends it out the door.

"You stand before a painting and the peaceful landscape calls you in — or a scene of violent pain holds you in thrall — and for a minute that's longer than eternity you enter the serenity, or you rage and grieve along with the picture's tortured souls.

"You read a piece of poetry and for the span of a minute — or an hour — you find a space to sit and listen to the sound of naked joy, or to stare into the face of unfathomable grief.

"More than anything else, that's what good art does: not answer questions or set agendas, but create space — space to laugh, to mourn, and to wonder who and how and why we are."
This is how Graziano Marcheschi begins this inspiring paperback. He is the Director of the Lay Ministry Formation Program for the Archdiocese of Chicago and Director of the Anawim Players, a Liturgical Performing Arts Company. Here are poems, prayers, and performance pieces that can be used by Christians as spurs to spiritual growth. Marcheschi honors imagination and sees it as a vehicle that can be used to serve God. Hopefully, he will share more pieces from his fertile mind in the future.

Try a Spiritual Practice on Imagination