An Open Letter to Fellow Artists

Michael D. O’Brien

Dear Friends

I receive a very large number of letters from young Christian painters, writers, and musicians, and ask those of you who have written to me to forgive the lack of a reply. To answer even a fraction of the letters I receive would take about half of my work days, and I must humbly admit my limitations. The Lord has called me to focus on my primary task of creating.

I would like to write to you a few thoughts about our calling. This will be a sort of Combat Journal from the Culture Wars, penned by a battle scarred veteran. I hope it will cover most of the questions I am regularly asked.   (more…)

My grief over the current condition of the Church, both universal and particular (USA, Canada, Western Europe), is immense. Our chief temptation during this time of confusion is to bitterness, isolation, and dismay. Coming through these temptations, I’ve learned that our Lord always desires us to go deeper and farther. At the heart of everything is union with Him. But this union grows only by faith and by suffering. Experiencing rejection, false judgments by others, the failures of shepherds to be true spiritual fathers, a multitude of disorders in the Body of Christ … all of these are a test for us (sometimes a severe test).
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My new novel, The Fool of New York City, is now off the printing presses. The story is set in present day Manhattan and is the tale of two souls who are considered to be “fools” and “idiots” in the eyes of most people they encounter.

One is a literal giant, the other an amnesiac who believes he is the 17th century Spanish painter Francisco de Goya, hundreds of years old, aging more slowly than the rest of the human race. Billy the giant has also briefly suffered from amnesia years ago, and he understands the anguish of those who have lost their identity. He is an apparently simple person, a failed basketball player with an enormous good heart who takes Francisco under his wing after they meet through a seeming coincidence. Together they undertake a laborious search to discover Francisco’s true past.

The trail leads them to numerous adventures, into the shrouded realm of hidden memories, the ironies and complexities of human character and destiny, of catastrophic evil and of redemption. It is a journey into the mysterious dimensions of the mind. It is about trauma and remembrance in America.

The Fool of New York City can be ordered directly through the publisher, Ignatius Press, or through amazon.com or amazon.ca

New novel by Michael D. O’Brien:

    Elijah in Jerusalem is the continuing story of the priest, Fr. Elijah Schäfer. A convert from Judaism, survivor of the Holocaust, he has for decades been a Carmelite friar on the mountain of the prophet Elijah. In the events of the preceding novel, Father Elijah: An Apocalypse, the central character confronted the President of the European Union, a man rising toward global control as President of the soon to be realized World Government. The Pope recognizes in the President certain qualities that are anti-Christ, and asks Fr. Elijah to call the man to repentance, though his attempts at this prove to be unsuccessful.
In this sequel, now-Bishop Elijah, accompanied by his fellow friar Brother Enoch, enter Jerusalem just as the President arrives in the city to inaugurate a new stage of his rise to power. They hope to unmask him as the Antichrist prophesied by Scripture and to warn the world of the imminent spiritual danger to mankind. As the story unfolds, people of many kinds meet the undercover priest, and in the process their souls are revealed and tested, bringing about change for the good or for evil. Elijah perseveres in his mission even when all seems lost. The dramatic climax is surprising, yet it underlines that God works all things to the good for those who love Him, testifying to the truth that in the end Wisdom will be justified and Satan confounded.

Available in September/October 2015.  Preorder in USA and abroad:

http://www.amazon.com/Elijah-Jerusalem-Michael-D-OBrien/dp/1586179462

In Canada:

http://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Elijah+in+jerusalem

Available from Justin Press:  www.justinpress.ca

From the publisher: “In William Kurelek: painter and prophet Michael O’Brien brings to life a great artist whose work embodies his passionate faith as it was lived out in an agonizing struggle waged against the forces of disintegration, both within himself and in modern society. This book is a unique achievement by a writer who shares both Kurelek’s faith and his vocation.”