The Master's Artist as journalist

I have one novel out, but unless someone offers me a huge advance up front, I will probably never write another. Instead, I am back working as a journalist and, for the most part, I love what I'm doing.

As I get older though, I am confronting more and more frequently my limitations.  I remember starting out in journalism 27 years ago and the joy of learning new things about the writing craft.  Same thing when I started writing The Defilers.  But long experience has shown me that I can try and try and work very, very hard, but I'm probably never going to get beyond being a solid professional writer.  No big literary prizes are likely to come my way.  Few people are going to gasp at the beauty of my writing or deft turns of phrase.

It's humbling, to say the least, that any improvements I make as I enter the last stretch to retirement, may be in such small increments that I will barely notice them. I used to think--cliche, I know--the sky was the limit.  Now maybe I'm a little more realistic, maybe a little more tired, I dunno.

Last week I attended an international Catholic Media Convention that drew journalists from as far away as Rome and across North America to Toronto.

Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Archbishop of Quebec, had a beautiful message about what it means to be a Catholic journalist.  I think his message applied to all Christians in the field. Fiction writers, too.  He said:

Jesus did not redeem the world with beautiful words but with his suffering and his death. His Passion is the inexhaustible source of life for the world; the Passion gives power to his words.

The Gospel also helps us recognize our own need to be evangelized. As the People of God immersed in the world, often tempted by our own false idols, we too need to examine the way we pray, celebrate and proclaim the Gospel. Our mission requires us first of all to create in the Church itself mutual esteem, reverence and harmony and to acknowledge all legitimate diversity. The ties which unite the faithful together are stronger than those which separate them. Let there be unity in what is necessary, freedom in what is doubtful and charity in everything.

The Holy Spirit is the prime agent of Evangelization, inspiring each of us to proclaim the Gospel and causing us to understand and accept the words of salvation in the depth of our being. Without the Holy Spirit, the most convincing arguments or most highly developed plans based on sociology or psychology are quickly seen to be without value.

(. . . .)

New Evangelization means: to dare, once again and with the humility of the small grain, to leave up to God the when and how it will grow (Mark

4:26

-29). The sources are hidden – they are too small. In other words: large realities begin in humility. In the process of the New Evangelization, we are often faced with the great temptation of impatience, the temptation of immediately finding the great success, in finding large numbers. But this is not God´s way. For the Kingdom of God as well as for authentic Evangelization, the instrument and vehicle of the Kingdom of God, the parable of the grain of mustard seed is always valid (see Mark 4:31-32).

I loved this message. The one thing I can do is embrace the Gospel at the depth of my being and, despite the limitations of my talent and ability, trust that the Holy Spirit will somehow impart life through even the simplest words.

That's what it means to me to be the Master's Artist as a journalist.

After Cardinal Ouellet's talk I wandered over towards the ladies room off the hotel ballroom.  Inside, a woman stopped me and asked if I was Deborah Gyapong. 

"I prayed to God that I would get a chance to meet you at this conference," she said.

Then she told me how much she appreciated my work.  She told me I seemed to her to be the kind of journalist Cardinal Ouellet was calling on us to be in his talk moments before.

I can't tell you how much her words blessed me. And so did the cardinal's. 

They are an encouragement to keep on pressing in to Jesus, knowing that it is only through Him that my words have life. 

Comments

[Jeanne Damoff]

Good words, Deborah--both the Cardinal's and yours. I'm glad you had that encounter in the ladies room. We can believe with all our hearts that the part we play matters, but it's always encouraging to hear it from someone else.

Journalism is the front line. Thanks for having the courage to go there.

Love, Jeanne

[Mary E. DeMuth]

First, that picture you have up makes it look like you're the leader of the group Defilers! :-)

I loved that the Lord chose to speak encouragement to you through this woman. Keep it up, Deb. You're in a good place, doing good things.

[Nicole]

You're a real writer, Deborah. And true journalism is a dying art. I'm glad you had the divine encounter. God is your biggest fan.

[Dee]

Great words, Deb. Be encouraged in what you do. You matter.