Over the past few weeks, I’ve shared some major concepts that significantly changed my perspective. I was so relieved when I discovered that I could participate in Christ’s sacrifice, because this realization gave dignity and worth to labor and the body. If you haven’t guessed yet, I became Catholic because of these revelations. Then, a few years after my conversion, I discovered John Paul II’s Theology of the Body - a series of 129 lectures between 1979 and 1984 that discuss the integration of the human person as embodied souls - which perfectly affirmed and deepened what I had discovered in my spiritual life and in my textile work. JPII gave a rich language to define human relationships in a way I’d never heard before. It’s like Rob Bell’s Sex God was a rain puddle and JPII’s Theology of the Body is the ocean.
All the while, my fiber artworks were exploring, developing, and solidifying these same concepts in an expression without words. Not only was I experiencing firsthand the dignity of my handiwork while creating artwork, but my artworks themselves were speaking to the sacramental worldview and theology of the body. My artwork relates to these philosophies through the sheep, the relationship between the sheep and their shepherd, and the work of the sheep.
Working with sheep’s wool for the first time was a revelation. The sheer breadth of applications for sheep’s wool is incredible and every new facet of wool that I’ve discovered has deepened my understanding of the many sheep references in the Bible. Here are just a few of my favorite verses that mention sheep and shepherd:
The Lord is my shepherd;
there is nothing I lack.
In green pastures he makes me lie down;
to still waters he leads me;
he restores my soul.
He guides me along right paths
for the sake of his name.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff comfort me.
You set a table before me
in front of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Indeed, goodness and mercy will pursue me
all the days of my life;
I will dwell in the house of the Lord
for endless days.
We had all gone astray like sheep,
all following our own way…
I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them.
This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.
I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me,
just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep.”
What is your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray?
And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray.
Clearly, there’s something significant about sheep that the Lord wants to share with us. Once again, God is using a tangible, real experience within our humanity to show us His love in that top-down perspective I discussed last week. However, in this day and age, the vast majority of us are pretty far removed from a shepherding lifestyle or the creation of woolen textiles.
Sheep are not ordinary animals. When I learned how to felt - the process of creating fabric by agitating wool fiber under warm water and soap - I became enraptured by sheep’s wool and its seemingly miraculous abilities. During the felting process, wool fibers bond together on a microscopic level to create a single piece of unwoven, strong fabric. It is said that the process came about as shepherds would pull tufts of wool off their sheep and stuff them into their shoes for comfort.
Domesticating sheep around 5000 BC and using their wool for textiles was a substantial turning point in human history, most especially because wool can accept dyes, whereas the plant fibers that societies had been using until then could not as easily. Fabric makers, predominantly women in most societies, were able to decorate their fabrics like never before thanks to natural dyes. Wool is also much more comfortable and versatile than plant fibers. Wool is naturally antimicrobial, antifungal, humidifying, water-wicking, durable, and can keep wearers warm in the winter and cool in the summer. It’s no wonder brands like Smartwool, Allbirds, and Woolrich have had such great success. Not to mention societies like the Mongolian nomadic tribes who have been building wool felt yurts for thousands of years.
Needless to say, sheep wool is really cool. Here is this week’s homework and extra credit:
Homework: Listen to this talk series on the Theology of the Body from Christendom College - Episode 1, 2, and 3
Extra Credit: if you have the Hallow app, listen to the bedtime story, Lost and Found
The Good Shepherd, fresco, Priscilla catacombs,, circa 250-350 AD
