Walk. Look. Pray.
07-01-2021
Priscilla Rodriquez has created pathways to prayer that can be walked online and in-person.
The next time you’re in search of a more peaceful pace to life, take a walk through one of Chicago’s neighborhoods, stop at a work of public art, and offer a prayer based on what you’re experiencing in that moment. That’s the idea behind Priscilla Rodriquez’s award-winning project that gives anyone a way to refuel, refresh and restore their souls virtually or in-person. Using a prayer guide and one of several websites, anyone can visit public art places in Chicago and turn them into sacred spaces for praying, reflecting and listening to the musings of the heart. And individuals can also do an online search for public art in their cities.
“I’ve always loved art and I’m a visual learner,” said Rodriquez, MAM ’16, who serves as coordinator for McCormick’s Centers. “Chicago is filled with many expressions of public art and mosaics that tell a powerful story and also speak to issues of social justice, human rights, anti-racism, anti-violence, and other critical issues. The great news is that much of the public art is accessible virtually.”
Rodriquez birthed the Prayer Mural Walk guide project while attending the Foundations of Christian Leadership Conference through Leadership Education at Duke Divinity in 2019. She was challenged by a question from one of the instructors, “What good in the world can you build upon?” Rodriquez chose to build upon her love of art, the outdoors and God. In 2020, she applied for and received an Innovation Grant from the Foundations of Christian Leadership through Leadership Education at Duke Divinity to launch her project, Art of Spirituality: Stories of Racism and Social Justice Amidst Chicago’s Public Art of Murals/Mosaics.
“I reached out to Dr. Lis Valle [assistant professor of Homiletics] to write the prayer guide,” said Rodriquez who has been with McCormick for 20 years. “The guide offers a way to observe art with a spiritual practice called Visio Divina,* and it encourages participants to engage with the murals by responding to reflective questions, writing or praying about what they see, feel and think as they view the art.”
Mural commissioned for McCormick campus
In addition to the guidebook, the project has commissioned the creation of a mural on McCormick’s campus. The mural will be visible from inside and outside the building and will serve as a place of reflection for McCormick students, faculty and staff as well as the surrounding community. Five McCormick alumni, Rev. Shawna Bowman, M.Div. ’09, Min. Quantisha Mason, M.Div. ’17, Rev. Sergio Centeno, M.Div. ’14, Rev. Immanuel Karunakara, MTS ’20, and Min. Katherine Chilcote M.Div. ’21, have developed the visual concept for the mural which will depict a movement from mourning to joy. The mural is scheduled for completion later this year.
“One of the things that has been so rewarding for me is the number of people who have reached out and offered help or agreed to help when I asked,” said Rodriquez. “At times I felt overwhelmed…that this was bigger than I could do. But I believed this was something the Holy Spirit wanted me to do, and people kept encouraging me and helping me to do it. God is comfortable with big ideas.”
*Carl E. Horton, “Observing artwork as spiritual practice,” Louisville, KY, 2002. Adapted by Dr. Lis Valle, Chicago, IL, 2021.
Download Prayer Guide here.
Priscilla Rodriquez at “Word Dealers,” a mural painted by John Vergara and located in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood.