The Creator of all continued to create while walking on earth - as a carpenter, a masterful artist in His craft. I imagine His humble home in Nazareth revealed the skill that he learned from watching Joseph’s hands. Everything they had, from beds to plates to doors and windows were intentionally designed. I imagine His Holy Mother wove clothing in such a way that its beauty and modesty clarified Whose breath filled their lungs. He made things beautiful everywhere He went. He healed the blind, awakened the dead, lifted up the broken, and cast out demons. And when it came to the healthy, was there nothing to be healed? Far from it. He healed their very souls and changed their hearts. The rugged fishermen followed Him the moment He called them. What experience evokes such a response? Beauty, of course.
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Beauty changes us. It draws us out of our isolated worlds, bringing us to the divine. It ennobles us and helps us to see God, its source. When we become intentional about beauty, we learn how to find it; we let Him teach us to find it. What we’re doing is training ourselves to see the Divine - God in our lives - in nature, in the smiles of strangers and loved ones, in art, in music, in the chilled breeze, in the trickling river, in the smooth yet irregular ridges on a wooden pew, and within ourselves as Jesus gives Himself in the Eucharist. We learn right from wrong. We notice aspects of creation around us that intrigue us, like the way the river runs so much clearer when it’s a bit colder, or the way the edges of leaves shine in brightness like little halos.
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Sitting in the presence of Jesus, even if we don’t know it, He pours treasures of grace upon us. Like falling asleep in the sun, we’ll receive the rays whether we know it or not. A King so beautiful will make His subjects beautiful. We will become more like Him the more we are with Him.
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He made us in His image and lives in us. Like Him, we create for the sake of creating. We are co-creators not only in our ability to grow our families and His Church, but also in our inclination to be artists. Man in God’s image has a predisposition to create. We see it in the way little children, when left to their own devices, will color all over things they maybe shouldn’t. They will build houses in the woods with sticks and perform plays and dances for their parents. We see it again in the way every civilization has unique architecture, art forms, fashions, languages, music, dancing, history recording, and storytelling.
In His image, we will take what we have and make it beautiful. Our churches, the thronerooms of the King who made us like Him, will not hide His presence but declare it. In considering beauty, we can crown Him the King of our homes, speech, fashion, music, and relationships. Even the darkest corners can be made beautiful by His light.