Hello!

For the past 8 months or so, I’ve been participating in the Weekly Photo Challenge offered by dailypost.wordpress.com.  I’ve really enjoyed it and I appreciate the creative challenge it brings to take new photos with a particular theme in mind.

Last week on the Catholic Weekend podcast over at SQPN.com, I mentioned doing a similar sort of challenge based on Catholic themes.   The idea received some encouraging support, so here it is!

I bring you the first Catholic Photo Challenge!

Here’s the idea:

1.  Since the challenge topics I have in mind may take some time and thought to achieve, each challenge will initially run for two weeks.  A new challenge will be posted on the 1st and 15th of each month.  (We’ll start this first one a few days early as a warm up).

2. This challenge requires that you have a blog where you can post your photo, along with a description.  (Don’t have a blog?  Check out these suggestions.)  (UPDATE:  The plugin I’m using now supports Instagram!  Read more here. )

3.  Each challenge will be based on some aspect of the Catholic faith.  You are free to submit any photo that you believe best represents the theme.  It’s totally up to you!  You can submit any photo that you’ve taken in the past, or that you’ve taken specifically for this challenge.   In your post, tell us why you chose this particular photo.

4.  For a hashtag or tag, use #catholicphoto

5.  The posting method described below is similar to the one that you may have seen on Jennifer Fulwiler’s conversiondiary.com “Seven Quick Take Friday” posts.  It’s pretty easy to figure out.

Ready to give it a try?  Here’s the first challenge:

Catholic Photo Challenge:  Seeing God in the Works of Creation

Blood Moon as seen from Tulsa, Oklahoma

Have you ever looked at pictures of the stars, planets and galaxies and been amazed?  As individuals, we can seem pretty minuscule and insignificant in the grand scheme of things.  It can be very difficult to see what our roles are in the “big picture” of the universe.   Do you sometimes feel an urge to find proof of the existence of God?

One way to see and feel the existence of God is in the natural world around us.

Examining the natural world helps us humans to see God. You can feel God’s power in the wind, fire and water. You can see God’s beauty in trees, flowers, sunsets and grand vistas. Our natural world, both the large and small of it, can touch us deeply.  You can sense God’s generosity towards us because He made us caretakers of his many gifts of creation.

The first humans, which we read about in the Book of Genesis, could see and feel God’s presence around them because he also gave them (and us!) the ability to think and to make connections between the things that we experience in the natural world. God gave us the ability to search for the meaning of things we experience.

For this first challenge, show us a photo that represents to you God’s presence in the natural world.

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