Thérèse Withers felt led to let her light shine through Jesus' call to 'remain in Him.' Her new creative mission was then born, as she explains.
I had been raised in the mix of 9 children in a home that had Jesus in the centre, and I had loved him, but school and university felt like a ‘no man's land’: I simply had to ‘get through them’ and try not to get ‘hit’. It was hard in my context to open the heart of my home to a world that said there was ‘no room’ for it in their inn, and so two lives grew in parallel.
These endeavours will never have a long shelf life and ‘of course’, years on, I sought healing for the wounds that resulted, but I also sought for ways for this to never happen for others. Did it really need to be so hard?
Life is hard without Jesus
Last year, I sat reflecting on the words of Christ in John 15: ‘Remain in me’. He had spoken them over 2000 years ago, but again to my heart that day, as though for the first time. I saw in them the call for myself, so many times over the years, that to remain in Him in my life was not to flee from the world but to invite Him into it.
Life is hard without Him, and without the gift of faith that allows us to live of Him: and this was my inspiration to start the little mission First Saturday shop. I heard the words of St John-Paul II: ‘Respond to the problem of the world with your gifts’ and as a creative, I turned to my sketchbooks-and also to my community-to see how I could serve them.
I've created a lot since that day: homeware, decor and stationery and clothing, all in the hope of offering things of faith that are contemporary and creative and colourful. I think we can uplift our Christian culture from the heart and the home so we can 'remain in Him' as individuals and, from that, as a Church.
'We are called to be a light to the world'
The world needs the faith and the light and the love that God has given us. This is how the First Saturday ministry was born. It exists as a creative mission to fill your homes and Church shops or community spaces.
One priest wrote to thank me for providing the cards for his parish repository that had sold out sooner then expected, calling the items “tools for his missionaries” (referring to his parishioners). I receive lots of messages about people sharing the artwork with non-
Christian friends, family and spouses- and I think this is a testament to the power of artwork.
We are called to be a light to the world and, like light, artwork does not necessitate words: it can infuse into a person and an environment. I pray to offer work that is a source of His light for others, so we can remain in Him, and offer that invitation to the world.
Visit First Saturday here
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