We live in the same world that rejected Christ. It continues to reject Him. It put Him to death, and it puts to death signs of Him - the beautiful. But our Lord is resurrected. In this resurrected life, He continues to put forth His beauty and splendor. “The Light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). Beauty exists. It is before us, within us in every breath, and we can see it if we but ask for the grace; for the scales to be removed from our eyes.
Saint Thomas Aquinas defined three characteristics of beauty: integritas, consonantia, and claritas. Integritas describes beauty’s wholeness. It is complete in itself. It lacks nothing, nor exceeds the parts for which its nature calls. A beautiful horse, then, does not have tusks or a trunk; that would make it something different entirely. Consonantia refers to beauty’s proportion and harmony. An aged oak tree with roots only inches in the ground would be disproportionate. The beauty of the tree is directly connected to its suitable proportions. The claritas of beauty, then, divulges beauty’s clarity. It reveals actuality and is not deceptive. The beautiful does not hide its inner being. Many martyrs were crowned as such because they did not hide their faith or let it be taken for something that it was not. Beauty stands its ground.
Beauty deserves our attention because Jesus deserves our attention. It is the way we experience the divine. When we attune ourselves to the beautiful, we train ourselves to one day see the true and good One whose beauty is perfect. This experience is foreshadowed in the way beauty demands peace – an end to the war, the storm, the confusion, and the anxiety within us. “Who then is this? That even the wind and sea obey Him?” (Mark 4).
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“For from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator” (Wisdom 13). As in human art we can learn about the artist, we learn about the Divine Artist from His creation. It bears His name and demands we look higher than the material world. So we adorn Him with what is worthy of Him. Crown Him King over all. As a man may find only the most brilliant ring fit for his beloved wife, so we find our most precious belongings for the Church’s Bridegroom. Spouses pursue lifelong relationships as the Church pursues an eternal one.
The Lord reaches us in the Sacraments. They are veiled insofar as our eyes are clouded. We make our churches beautiful because they are the place where the most beautiful things happen. Architecture, statues, icons and paintings, precious metals, sacred language and holy music clarify the reality of what is happening: heaven meeting earth. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the source of all beauty, calls us to Himself so that one day His beauty may be unveiled before all.