Man Becomes Beautiful

The great cannot exist without those of humble condition, nor can those of humble condition exist without the great. Always it is the harmonious working together of its various parts that insures the well-being of the whole. – From a letter to the Corinthians by Saint Clement, pope.

We last considered the definition of beauty, in creation, in Scripture, and in God. I was particularly moved by the description of the beauty of Jesus, and that it cannot be dissected, looked at piece by piece, without losing the whole picture of beauty. The above reading, from this morning’s Office of Readings, reminded me of that wholeness, which consists of each and every piece, all fitting together in a thing of beauty.

I also wrote last time of what a great day I had on that particular day. You might note that I did no writing yesterday – for it was far from a great day. From choosing to miss time in adoration to a contentious meeting to a day of high blood pressure to my friend again going to the emergency room, it was far from a pleasant day. It suitably ended in the evening when I was putting mom to bed and she indicated with great urgency that “I have to go”. As I helped her to the porta-potty, she did – on my foot. While she apologized with much anxiety, it seemed a most fitting end to my day.

But it wasn’t the end. I decided to make a stop at the local adoration chapel, and spent some time in quiet with my God. I had started the day with mass, and ended in His presence again. The day seemed to have gone full circle, but I looked at it with the prior day, which was so wonderful, and I realized that they seemed to fit together: some bad, some good. I was reminded that this too, is part of the beauty of creation, the beauty of each one of our lives, the harmonious working together of its various parts that ensures the well-being of the whole.

A man grows in holiness his whole life, becoming a thing of beauty. As Blessed Columba Marmion so wonderfully described the Divine Plan of God (ref Heaven on January 5, 2010) in his book Christ, the Life of the Soul, we are called to a “participation in the Divine life brought by Jesus Christ.” We are truly meant to be members of his body. And in this wholeness, us and him, the whole Body of Christ, is the beauty of creation, its purpose and end. And within this, the pieces are all necessary. Apart, these pieces may seem useless, even ugly, but without all of them the beauty is not complete. That is the way it is meant to be.

I recently read another blog about someone fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays. That is a way of the early Church. I did that for a while in my life, but then fell away. Now some could say that such a fasting is not a necessary thing, or even that it is a bad thing, and indeed for some it may be so. But for some, it is a choice at sacrifice, something we so rarely do. It is one thing to accept the good and the bad in our lives equally, but it is another to choose to accept a difficulty, a sacrifice. In truth, most of us relish the good in our lives, and drop to our knees whenever bad appears – “Take this away from us, Lord.” But as we’ve read above, this good and bad, they go together in making the whole. Strip one or the other away, and the beauty of the whole is diminished. No life is all good, nor all bad, and a life totally without one or the other would be considered a strange thing, certainly not a thing of beauty.

I think the idea of choosing a sacrifice is a good thing. Now I know there will be bad things in my life, and I can accept them if I am strong enough, but I think it would be a better thing if I choose some of them, choose some difficulties. After all, that is what Jesus did. I think it would please Him if I also chose some difficulty, asking of course if this would please Him, but I think it would. I think it would please Him to know that I chose some pain, no matter how small, to unite myself with the sufferings He chose.

I think this choosing to link my life to his, now, as it shall be in the end, could be a very useful part of my growing in holiness, of becoming more like him – until we are one. I only wish I could do this throughout my day, in all the little things. My contentious meeting yesterday morning was only contentious because it was not going the way I wanted it to, I wanted it to. It was a “me against them” feeling. And so, in retrospect, how was this a furthering of holiness for us all, a bringing together of all of us in the body of Christ? No, it was my doing MY will, and not seeking the will of the maker, nor respecting the holiness in each of his creatures. A good thing was sought to be done, but I acted as if only I knew the way to do it. And I had a headache the rest of the day. Perhaps that was a fitting balance to the beauty of the day, for certainly I created a bit of ugliness. I have many talents and abilities, and even if more than others, still, it is not me who is to lead all others. We are all to fit together in a bigger plan, and even in the smaller pieces of that plan.

Pride was the first sin of the angels, and it is the first sin of many men. We may accept that we are part of the Body of Christ, but we think we are the all important hand, which grabs and assembles most everything else, and can move bodies weaker than ours. And we forget the little pieces, like the elbow joint, without which the arm would fall off, and the hand be useless. All the pieces, the rich, the poor, the black, the white, the tall, the short, the old and the young – all are needed to make creation a thing of beauty. And all men together, eternally united with Jesus, are the ultimate thing of beauty.

Happy are those who love you,
and happy those who rejoice in your prosperity.
Happy are all the men who shall grieve over you,
over all your chastisements.
For they shall rejoice in you
as they behold all your joy forever.
- - Tobit 13

Use my eyes, O God, to see the beauty of this world you have made.
Use my mouth to speak lovingly to those all around me.
Use my heart to express love to all of your creation.
Use my hands to touch your creation with respect and delight.
Use my mind to let go of my painful, clinging ways.
Use my whole being as a place where you can live and be loved.
And thank you for making each of us your ‘favored one.’”
- - Surrendering Our Stress (p60) by Joan Guntzelman