Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you!
You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you.
In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created.
You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you;
yet if they had not been in you they would have not been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you.
I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me,
and I burned for your peace.
-From St. Augustine's Confessions
When I was a little girl, I never understood why the ladies in Church would cry when a beautiful hymn was sung (like Ave Maria or Amazing Grace). I thought, if it was so beautiful, wouldn't they want to smile and not cry? What I didn't understand then was the way their hearts were moved; that they didn't just hear the notes and words as I did. I did not yet grasp the deep beauty to be found everywhere, available to all of our senses. My heart had not yet become sensitive to beauty in that way.
There are many beautiful things in this world that we like to look at and listen to in nature, in art, in music, in those around us. But what is it that grips us? That holds our attention and moves us? What is the difference between seeing a beautiful face that makes you stare and seeing a beautiful soul that makes your heart tremble with emotion? What is it about seeing a sunset, a forest, birds, mountains, art, theater, hearing songs and reading passages that brings one to tears? It is not just the surface - the superficial beauty - of the things that causes our souls to swell, but what these things are indicative of.
We live in a world created by an all-knowing, all-present, and all-loving God. Every one of His creations reveals an aspect of His Heart, which is so fathomless that it cannot be expressed through one single act of creation. He chose a whole world, a whole universe, to express His Heart. We are on this earth for a short time before we are united with Him in the endless embrace of love that is Heaven. Our senses cannot perceive God as He is while we are on this earth, and we are limited in how we can know Him, due in part to our sinfulness. However, we can catch glimpses of Him through His creation.
As I've gotten older I have also grown in my ability to perceive beauty, and I am often overwhelmed with it. At times it feels as though beauty wounds my heart. Anything that touches my soul with the beauty of God often causes me to weep. This could be a song, nature, a picture, a passage, a talk, a scripture reading - even butterflies and baby bunnies! In the beauty of the created world I am able to see the one Love of my heart. I cannot yet be united to Him as my soul longs to be, but I am able to see Him and learn new things about Him through what He has made. Seeing little critters (bunnies, chipmunks, birds, squirrels, etc.) is one of my favorite things! When I see them I am reminded of His closeness and His tender care of all His creatures - "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father's will.... you are of more value than many sparrows" (see Matthew 10:29, 31).
As St. Augustine says in the passage above, "I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more." What is it about beauty that moves us so? What happens when we are moved? When beauty moves us, a deep hunger and unquenchable thirst is awakened within our souls. We are not satisfied with the way things are. We are reminded that there is something more than this world that we are living for. We long to transcend the world we know to another realm where our hearts know intuitively that they belong. The beauty that bursts into our consciousness and seems to linger just out of our grasp is a transcendent beauty - one that offers hints of what is waiting for us. Nothing on earth will satisfy the hunger and thirst it awakens. Through beauty, we are able to catch glimpses of the fulfillment our hearts throb for.
All hearts long for fulfillment. Not all hearts are open to beauty or to the Love that will fulfill them, but every heart longs for something. We are all hungry. Each one of us longs to be satisfied. This is evident by the pandemic of addictions present in the world. There is a deep, deep, unquenchable thirst within every human heart that cries out for fulfillment, for satisfaction, for rest and refreshment. Countless souls are so wearied by the distractions with which they seek to satisfy the starvation of their souls. If we all take a moment to really look at the world around us, to listen to the sounds of nature and feel the breeze on our faces, to let the silence envelope us, we would perhaps be able to open our hearts, so long closed to the power of beauty, and once again remember our final destiny. Our story doesn't end here, and beauty reminds us of that. It reminds us of our ultimate destination - eternal life.
In the address during his meeting with artists, Pope Benedict XVI said: "Authentic beauty...unlocks the yearning of the human heart, the profound desire to know, to love, to go towards the Other, to reach for the Beyond. If we acknowledge that beauty touches us intimately, that it wounds us, that it opens our eyes, then we rediscover the joy of seeing, of being able to grasp the profound meaning of our existence, the Mystery of which we are part; from this Mystery we can draw fullness, happiness, the passion to engage with it every day" (Meeting with Artists ). Let us open our hearts more fully to beauty, allowing it to transform our lives and re-awake in our hearts a burning desire for Heaven and He Who will fulfill our deepest longings!
Written by Catherine
