How Does God Reveal Himself? (Part 2/4)

Bulletin Column – August 11, 2019

            Last week, we spoke about how, according to Fr. Benedict Groeschel, God reaches out to us through truth, beauty, goodness, and unity. Today we tackle the transcendental of beauty – how does God reach out to some people through beauty, and what are the possible pitfalls to watch out for?

            This is my personal favorite transcendental (if you can have such a thing – guess I’m just a big Catholic nerd!). God has always reached out to me through beauty. I remember at fourteen years old being absolutely arrested at the sight of Michelangelo’s The Last Judgment on the wall of the Sistine Chapel. That one painting made more of an impact on my teenage heart than a thousand sermons on the same topic. I remember realizing that this Catholic Faith had to be true, eternity had to be real, and my life and my salvation matters – all because of that one painting. Oh yes, I knew all the rational arguments for why all of it was true – but that painting bypassed the intellect and went straight to the heart, convicting me and calling me to repentance and discipleship.

            For me, too, nature has always been a source of beauty that revealed the Face of God. I remember backpacking with a buddy up Mount Washington in New Hampshire. We got about a quarter up the mountain before we stopped for the night in a shelter. The next morning, I arose early to get some quiet prayer time in, and as I stepped out into a crisp late-summer morning, I saw the mountain towering above me, and a goofy-looking moose cow about twenty feet away munching on some breakfast. It was a breathtaking scene, with a crystal-blue sky and a smattering of puffy clouds, the grandeur of the tallest mountain on the East Coast and the closeness of the wildlife. As I sat on the picnic bench, praying and taking it in, God spoke to my heart and said, “Do you like it? I made it all for you.”

            Many modern men and women find that beauty is an accessible path to God. Beauty tends to bypass the intellect, so if people have intellectual arguments against the Faith, they often find it hard to argue with beauty. The beauty of St. John’s Basilica is itself a sermon without words – it shows visitors that the One Who dwells here, in the Tabernacle, is Himself beautiful, and that it is worth going to great lengths to honor Him with the best we can bring. People feel awe in the presence of tremendous beauty, and awe humbles us enough to allow God into our souls.

            One caution, though, if beauty is the way God reaches your soul – the temptation is often to focus on the earthly beauty itself and not to transcend it to love the Heavenly Beauty. As beautiful as a sunset is, it cannot match the Beauty of its maker; as nice as it is to hear music played well, it is not the music but the Holy Spirit that is moving our hearts. Beauty must lead us to God, not distract us from Him.

            In sum, beauty can be a powerful way in which God reaches out to our hearts, drawing us to Him, the source of all beauty. Next week: how God reaches us through goodness!