Beauty in a Time of Sorrow

 

Where do we find the beauty and goodness of God during a time of so much suffering? Pandemic, storms, terrible fires do not tend to make us think about beauty or express gratitude for the goodness of creation. 

Where is the beauty that we find it easy to relish in calmer times?

According to Father Stephen:

"The great mystery of Beauty is that its most profound statement in all of human history is the crucified Christ. The human experience of that Beauty is well described by Isaiah:

Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. … But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed (53:1-5).

Christ had “no beauty that we should desire him.” How is it possible that the King of Glory should have no beauty? This is itself the mystery of Beauty: it lies hidden beneath the sufferings of God

Father Stephen, “The Mystery of Beauty,” Glory to God for All Things 

In the beauty of the crucified and risen Christ, we see that pain doesn't have the last word; Covid-19 doesn’t have the last word; terrible fires do not have the last word; destructive storms do not have the last word. Fear and pain do not have the last word. No, the beauty of self-giving love does. 

It has been said that we become what we contemplate. Let us gaze on the beauty of Christ crucified; let us behold the beauty of Christ risen, even as we weep and grieve the losses of this painful time in which we are living.