“The symbol of a ship always delights me and helps me to bear the exile of this life.” – St. Thérèse of Lisieux
The world we live in today has lost its sense of journey. Many of us, instead of seeing our lives as a great adventure to reach a final destination, are intent on focusing only on satiating our immediate desires.
This has left many of us feeling alone, isolated, and without a meaning or purpose in life.
We are like ships, floating along the sea of life without any direction, thrown about by every storm that comes our way.
It doesn’t need to be like this.
We need to recover a renewed sense of journey in our lives, for we are all on a journey: the pilgrimage of life. We need to rekindle in our culture this disposition so that instead of drifting aimlessly through life, we are able to launch forward to Distant Lands, finding a Safe Harbor.
To do this, I firmly believe in the power of stories, and in particular, visual stories.
We all love a good story, as it often has the ability to transport us out of the mundane realities of our world, into another realm that taps into desires that were placed long ago in the depths of our heart.
Bringing Legends Back to Life
I believe that one way to awaken those desires is to recover an ancient form of storytelling: legends.
The word “legend” is derived from the Latin legere, to gather, select, read. This in turn is connected to the Greek legein, to gather or say, and the Greek logos, speech, word, reason. The etymology of this word is important as St. John refers to Jesus in his Greek Gospel as the logos, the “Word” of God (“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” – John 1:1).
For me at the core of these legends is the Logos, God from whom all truth, beauty and goodness finds its ultimate source and I believe these legends possess great value that we often needlessly throw away.
Indeed, it is these types of stories that captivate us and encourage us to look around at the world in a different way. The modern-day myth of Star Wars is a prime example.
George Lucas explained once in an interview, “I put the Force into the movies in order to try to awaken a certain kind of spirituality in young people.” He wanted children to discover the existence of God in their life and to see that there is more to this world. While Lucas wasn’t keen on organized religion, his intention is similar to the story-tellers of old. Using legend and myth to open up the spiritual eyes of people.
J.R.R. Tolkien also sought to do this in his fantasy stories, explaining in his essay On Fairy Stories, how, “The peculiar quality of the ‘joy’ in successful Fantasy can thus be explained as a sudden glimpse of the underlying reality or truth.”
All beautiful stories point to something greater beyond what we see and remind us of the underlying spiritual nature of reality.
This is why I founded Voyage Comics & Publishing, a company with a mission of creating world-class entertainment, formed by Catholic values, that inspires young and old to live a heroic life.
I firmly believe we need more of these stories that reach the modern world, a world in such great need of hope in the midst of overwhelming darkness.
One of my primary inspirations has been a devotion to Our Lady, Star of the Sea.
In the 12th century, St. Bernard of Clairvaux wrote:
If the winds of temptation arise, if you are driven upon the rocks of tribulation look to the star, call on Mary. If you are tossed upon the waves of pride, of ambition, of envy, of rivalry, look to the star, call on Mary. Should anger, or avarice, or fleshly desire violently assail the frail vessel of your soul, look to the star, call upon Mary
Catholic author J.R.R. Tolkien similarly found inspiration in Our Lady and even created a poem within his mythology that resembled a hymn to Our Lady, Star of the Sea.
O Elbereth Starkindler,
white-glittering, slanting down sparkling like a jewel,
the glory of the starry host!
Having gazed far away
from the tree-woven lands of Middle-earth,
to thee, Everwhite, I will sing,
on this side of the Sea, here on this side of the Ocean! (The Fellowship of the Ring)
O Elbereth Starkindler,
from heaven gazing afar,
to thee I cry now beneath the shadow of death!
O look towards me, Everwhite! (The Two Towers)
While we try to endure patiently the trials the world sends to us, we need to always look-up and remember that we are not alone, our life is a journey, and there are Safer Shores ahead.
To conclude, I will end with a poem that is close to my heart and was the inspiration of J.R.R. Tolkien’s hymn to Elbereth.
Hail, Queen of Heav’n, the ocean Star,
Guide of the wand’rer here below!
Thrown on life’s surge we claim thy care,
Save us from peril and from woe.
Mother of Christ, Star of the sea,
Pray for the wanderer, pray for meO gentle, chaste, and spotless Maid,
We sinners make our prayers through thee
Remind thy Son that He has paid
The price of our iniquity.
Virgin most pure, Star of the sea,
Pray for the sinner, pray for me.Sojourners in this vale of tears,
O thee, blest Advocate, we cry,
Pity our sorrows, calm our fears,
And soothe with hope our misery.
Refuge in grief, Star of the sea,
Pray for the mourner, pray for me.And while to Him who reigns above,
In Godhead One, in Persons Three,
The source of life, of grace, of love,
Homage we pay on bended knee;
Do thou, bright Queen, Star of the sea.
Pray for thy children, pray for me
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Philip Kosloski
Philip Kosloski is the founder of Voyage Comics & Publishing and the writer and creator of the comic book series, Finnian and the Seven Mountains.