Homily

Pope Benedict wrote an article some years ago on the topic of beauty. He wrote about what seems to be a paradox, a contradiction. The Church talks about the beauty of Christ, using this verse from Ps. 44:

"You are the fairest of the children of men and grace is poured upon your lips."

Benedict says that this psalm verse, applied to Christ, is not speaking merely of human external beauty, but the beauty of the truth that is in Christ, the beauty of God Himself, Who draws us to Himself.

But the Church also, talking about Christ's suffering and passion, speaks of Him using the words from Isaiah 53, Verse 2:

"He had neither beauty, nor majesty, nothing to attract our eyes, no grace to make us delight in Him."

So here, in His passion, the Church says not only is Christ not physically beautiful, He looks so wretched that nobody wants to even look at Him. This seeming contradiction fascinated many of the Fathers. Is beauty true, or does ugliness show us what is true? Is the beauty of truth that is in Christ the same truth that embraces suffering, pain, and even the dark mystery of death.

Benedict describes the two ways one can see the beauty of the truth. The first way is by being taught about the truth. But the second way is through personal experience, through direct contact with the source of all truth.

Benedict wrote that icons are a good example of this. Our eyes see the painting and we may judge it to be beautiful or not on the basis of simply what our eyes see, the way the icon affects our usual sense of beauty. But, if we look beyond just color, shape, technique and see icons with our inner eye of faith, we can see beyond what any art critic might also see, and we move towards seeing a beauty that is much richer and deeper, the beauty of the glory of God.

People have always wondered, Benedict says, whether there is such a thing as the beauty of truth when we can also see around us lies, seduction, violence, and evil. Can the beautiful be genuine, or is it just simply an illusion? Maybe it's not what we consider to be beautiful that leads us to truth, but instead maybe it is lies and all that is ugly and vulgar—maybe that's the genuine truth and we just have to face up to it. After all, look at all the wars and utter brutality of the 20th century's history. Look around at our world today.

Is Christ the "fairest of the children of men," or is He the one Who "had no beauty, no majesty to draw our eyes, no grace to make us delight in Him?" He is both. In His suffering and passion that which might seem to be only dark and ugly is not removed but it is overcome. The experience of the beautiful becomes even deeper and more real.

Benedict writes,

"The One Who is Beauty itself allows Himself to be slapped in the face, spat upon, crowned with thorns; the Shroud of Turin helps us imagine this in a realistic way. However, in His face that is so disfigured there appears the genuine and extreme beauty: the beauty of love that goes 'to the very end;' for this reason, it is shown to be greater than lies and violence. Whoever can perceive this beauty knows that truth and not lies is the real thing that genuine people desire."

And I think a good example of this is on Good Friday when we come forward to kiss the holy shroud. We are able to see beyond the suffering and death lying in front of our eyes on the shroud, something that normally would make us turn away. Instead we are drawn to it, because we see the beauty of His love for us even in the disguise of suffering and pain. Or maybe think of your grandmother. Her aged face would never appear on the cover of Vogue or Vanity Fair as an image of beauty and yet isn’t her face wonderful and beautiful to you?

The world of lies and deceptions offer people a beauty that is, well, a lie and a deception. It's a beauty that doesn't call us to experience something fine, magnificent, and wonderfully much greater than ourselves. Instead it locks people entirely into themselves. It does not stir a desire for God, for sacrificial love, for selfless living. Instead it stirs up harmful desires, the will for power, possession, and pleasure.

Benedict says that in the Garden of Eden Eve saw the forbidden fruit as something "beautiful" and "delightful to the eyes." This attraction aroused within her a desire to possess it and turn away from God, locking herself into just her own desires. The consequences of her sin were tragic. Benedict asks, isn't that what so much of advertising is about? Creating images that tempt us to want to grab everything and seek temporary satisfaction instead of being open to others.

Some years ago a priest who is much younger than me was showing me some of the music videos that were popular with young people at that time. Now I realize that he was showing us some of the worst examples, not the best, but I was surprised that I'm not as aware of what is going on in the world as I thought. The videos were dark, ugly, demeaning, and full of negative and despairing messages. And of course they were all about me, me, me. They all used strong sexual images, so much so that you would think the greatest achievement of life is to satisfy your lust. The young priest said, "And this is what our young people are watching and listening to." I was sincerely horrified, and I wonder if parents are truly aware of what their children may be watching, and what effect these videos can have on our young people and the way they see life. There was no beauty there. And I wonder if they think these videos are showing the truth about life?

People would like to be seen as beautiful, at least as much as possible. In the United States people spent 63 billion dollars on cosmetics last year. But where can we find true beauty and how do we react to it? Does it point us outside of ourselves to reach out to others in service, to turn our heads in the direction of God and all that is good? Or does the type of beauty we look for tempt us to be selfish and self-centered, using other people for our own pleasure, and locking ourselves into a world where God doesn't matter and this physical life is all that counts.

Benedict ended his article this way:

“Many people have heard the sentence Dostoyevsky wrote, 'Beauty will save the world.' But not so many people realize that the Beauty he was talking about is Christ.”

Dear friends, true beauty is in the beauty of the truth. That truth is Christ. In that sense let us continue to become more beautiful ourselves as we continue to desire, to live, to become, more and more, like Christ our Savior.