Art and Sacrificial Love

Art and Sacrificial Love is a conversation between two Catholic artists who are also gifted writers. The setting is a house in the woods near Combermere; the two men are alone except for animals, and free to explore the wellsprings of Christian art and the suffering that its creation entails. The discussion is not theoretical; it lays bare the anguish and joy of a life lived in the service of an artist’s vocation.

Christ and the Church ask [Christian artists] to be willing to suffer in order to give birth to such works. In the age of comfort and materialism, many artists draw back in revulsion from this invitation and, like the rich young man in the Gospel, turn sadly away. They fail to understand that within the mystery of suffering with Christ is hidden a great joy, and inexhaustible riches.

~ Michael O’Brien, Remembrance of the Future

Clemens Cavallin is Associate Professor in History of Religions at the University of Gothenberg, Sweden. He studied at the Valand Art Academy in Gothenburg and is an active painter of portraits and of works commissioned by churches.

Clemens Cavallin is the author of On the Edge of Infinity (Justin Press, 2017), a biography of Michael O’Brien.