Susan Daily IBVM
I come from Australia and I am known for my religious graphic art, photography and silk drops.
Art has always been an integral part of my life. I have worked as an artist, teaching, and inspiring teachers in schools and parishes. I have developed books, CD-ROMs and websites as resources for others featuring my original works. A highlight of my ministry has been working in our First Nations Aboriginal communities and setting up art groups and supporting very gifted artists to have a career in the arts.
I passionately believe “a picture tells a thousand words”. We all know an image that supports what is being said gives the message greater meaning and depth, today the use of emojis is a modern technological response to this notion.
My appointment as artist in residence at the General Congregation 2022 challenges me to listen and respond to all that happens In Manresa and sharing it visually.
The members from Anawim Arts are going to be on call to contribute images and photographs so that we can offer a variety of expression. We invite and welcome anyone who would like to contribute images, photographs, videos, music, songs and poems to send them to susan.daily@loreto.org.au we would love to include them.
Susan Daily IBVM OAM
www.reclaimthefreshnessofthegospel.com
Artwork Inspired by the GC22 Proceedings
WALKING THE JOURNEY OF BECOMING ONE
Let us rejoice and celebrate this first step of becoming one Institute
Bring out your jingles and drums,
Your guitars, cellos, harps and banjos
Adorn your heads with coloured beads,
Legs with anklets and jingles
Shake to rhythmic sounds and melodious ululations.
The journey to becoming one is long but possible
We have walked on dusty roads
Swarm on muddy rivers
Quenched our thirst in running streams
Trod on dark valleys and climbed on Rocky Mountains
Searching, pleading, and yearning to become one
Today, we see the light, our first step to becoming one Institute.
Seed planted in fertile soil centuries ago
Nurtured and watered by Mary Ward
A courageous, visionary woman
Today, the seed wiggles through the cracks of mother earth
The womb that nurtured and fed her for so many years
As she searched in the dark for a glimpse of light
To see what lies ahead
She now makes her first difficult step to embrace the light
In her journey to fulfill Mary Ward’s dream
Today, the first step to becoming one Institute.
Rejoice, you ‘new life’, you ‘new beginnings’
Blossom as you continue growing in the hearts of these great women
See the smile in their lips
The glow in their faces
The determination in their steady feet
Jingles and anklets announcing their coming
Together as they continue the next step to becoming one
In humility together they move
In unison as a tendril caressing a might tree
The great women of our times
Together responding to Mary Ward’s desire, ‘that they may be one’
CJ and IBVM, in trust and doubting not our Lord
Continuing the journey of becoming one, Jesus say, Amen.
(Wamũyũ Wachira (IBVM) – Eastern Africa, Province – 15 October 2022
