Summer beauty

For Christians beauty is Someone not something.

Father Thomas Morrette

One of the blessings of living in the Northeast is the opportunity to experience the beauty of four seasons. We’re headlong into summer now. The weather is warm. Except for Canadian smoke, the skies are blue. Flowers are in bloom. Many are, or have, headed off for vacations. Whether camp­ing or sitting by a beach, summer puts before us unique joys and glories.

Our Catholic faith has always had a great deal to say about this reality we call “beauty.” We say that God is reflected in all that is both true and beautiful. To see something beautiful is to be uplifted. Beauty inspires and causes our hearts to soar! That’s why the Church reminds us to take regular time to meditate on the grandeur of nature — to slow up and ponder the natural wonders in our world, to sit by the seashore and see the hand of God in it all, to climb mountains and explore wonderful vistas, to pause in contemplation at the diversity and miracle of all life. Contemplating on the beautiful things of this earth lifts us up and eventually calls us to prayer and gratitude.

Christians can see supernatural realities behind the beauties of our created world. This added dimension connects us to the Person behind the spectacular universe we live in. For the Christian, beauty is not something but Someone — and that Someone is obviously pretty awesome, magnificent and creativity itself!

At some point, the life of a Christian should move from fascination with beautiful people and things in the world to contemplation of, and communion with, Beauty Itself. It is a journey from what is secondary to what is ultimate. God is “Ultimate Beauty” and, through creation, we can come to know and love Him here and now. (Can you imagine what it will be like to sit in His presence eternally?)

God’s Beauty became visible in Jesus Christ. The Son of God reveals everything we know about our creator God. Jesus told us that God is a mixture of love and power, creativity, forgiveness and a mystifying, deep longing for every human being. His love is so foundational that it compels Him to stoop down and join us here. His love was behind his sending his only Son so we can live forever. His love also made everything of beauty and he made it possible for us to make this world our playground, if we don’t forget him and his will.

The beauty of created things can never fully satisfy. Natural beauty brings with it a hidden nostalgia for the eternal creator of all things. This is something the great St. Augustine experienced, and wrote about, late in his life, in incomparable terms. He writes: “Late have I loved you — beauty so old, and so new – late have I loved you.” Fascinated as a young man with all the world offered, he later found its beauties and enticements empty, and, in a moment of grace, he came to see the world’s source and ultimate beauty. It was only then that he found rest from all his striving. The mystery behind this wonderful universe was solved. It was God’s love and beauty that made it all!

So, this summer, amidst summer’s own unique beauties, don’t forget to see beyond the glories around us. Know and feel the love of “the Great Beauty” behind them, our beautiful God. Praise Him from whom all blessings flow!

Father Thomas Morrette is pastor at The Catholic Community of Our Lady of Victory in Troy, Our Lady of the Snow Mission in Grafton and Christ Sun of Justice Parish in Troy.