At the back of the Church there was another seminarian, this one was a former Anglican, who is married with children. Tonight he had his small daughter with him, a nice one year old who cooed contentedly during Mass. I heard her occasionally but didn't see her until after Mass, when her dad brought her into the house, it was beautiful to see her father with her, his love for her and her trust in him. It would have been beautiful to watch him praying and nursing his daughter.
They were externally quite dissimilar, internally both illuminated by the same desire for God.
The beauty of the Church is primarily seen its people where we glimpse something of the beauty of God, at the top of this is Michael Voris video on beauty, he is talking the Church's rich heritage of artistic beauty, what an earlier age without condemnation would have described as 'artificial beauty' or the 'beauty of artifice'.
I feel so fortunate as priest being surrounded by so much which is truly beautiful, the other night I had dinner with a couple who were so obviously deeply in love who together were trying cope with the tragic death of their son. That too was beautiful. As was the way our sacristan had prepared and laid out my vestments for vigil of Saint Laurence.
It is too easy to make distinctions between natural beauty and artificial beauty both emanate from God.
I watched this film after Mass, there are some interesting Concilliar themes from 1944, again there are moments of tear jerking beauty in it.
I watched this film after Mass, there are some interesting Concilliar themes from 1944, again there are moments of tear jerking beauty in it.
4 comments:
Indeed Father there is so much beauty around us and we need to be aware of it. Sadly it took me being disabled before I found the time to see the beauty in the world around me.
Interesting!
I wonder what's more likely to attract the attention of modern youth brought up in self-centred hedonism, the embarrassing (and ugly) clowning of the assembled Brazilian Prelates, or Pie Jesus?
Father, as you say, "It is too easy to make distinctions between natural beauty and artificial beauty - both emanate from God."
And Catholics who make this distinction, who under-value the artificial beauty produced by those given a gift from God, resemble the pharisee who disapproved of the sinner Mary Magdalene, when she annointed the feet of OLJC.
"I feel so fortunate as priest being surrounded by so much which is truly beautiful"
What a wonderful and candid sentiment.
It's a true gift to be see beauty in all situations; there's certainly a beauty in sadness and in grief. I find Brighton endlessly beautiful and am often deeply offended by the scars of litter, dereliction and vandalism. I know many of us felt saddened by the sight of mounting rubbish during the recent refuse strike; but it was moving and actually beautiful to see the city's residents, including the homeless, clearing it away themselves. It sounds trite to say it but I suppose "feeling" and "love" are simply beautiful. The concept of faith and the expression of it embrace include artificial or created beauty. Thanks for this thoughtful post.
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