Beauty of God and the Holy Cross

Suppose that you were standing by a beach at sunset and you become deeply moved and utter the words, "This is beautiful, this is glorious." You are ultimately pleased by a feeling that we as a culture refer to this response as, beauty. A feeling that possesses an enormous power to touch us deeply while holding a tremendous potential to grip and transform us. For beauty stirs and satisfies our deepest longings as well as attracting us, provoking our adoration, and inviting us to adorn ourselves with its luster. Indeed, our society naturally celebrates beauty automatically through experiences that arouse affections for that which we find attractive.

But what is it that poses us to allow us to obtain such a feeling? The reason for this, I think, is that there is in every person a God given sense that beauty must have meaning that is larger and more enduring than short felt satisfaction. That this urge for ultimate meaning is evidence of God’s creation of beauty. Therefore, if God has created all things and has given everything its form and its purpose, then I define beauty as a relation to God. For to know God is know beauty, to know beauty is to know God. Just as God is the source of all truth and goodness, God is also the source of all beauty. God is the Supreme Artist – the Creator of all. Thus, everything that is beautiful reflects God’s artistry. The Church Father, Hilary of Poitiers, wrote: “Surely the author of all created beauty must himself be the beauty in all beauty.”

-2-

Born and raised a strong Catholic, I feel God’s presence in my everyday life and I am blessed to be encompassed with this company. His power in my life allows me to unquestionably declare him as the sole individual who most ...

... middle of paper ...

...s ago has opened the path to eternal life for all who believe in him.

In every human sole there is a place where we yearn for beauty’s power and presence. We need beauty. We need to be overwhelmed by it and drawn into its inexplicability that arouses our desire and captivates our affections. For I believe that we all want to be moved by some rare glimpse of greatness. We long for a vision of nirvana, something that endures our soul and bring peace to our hearts. I am persuaded that the reason it is there is because God is the ultimately beautiful one and he made us to long for himself. And we can know that our desires are remnants of this urge for God because everything less than God leaves us unsatisfied. Only one vision will be sufficient for our avid hearts, the glory of God. For that we have been made, and it is for this we long, whether we know it or not.