BEAUTY
What is beauty?
The modern, more subjective definition is:
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
A more traditional – and realistic – definition is:
That which when seen delights (St. Thomas Aquinas)
Are we permitted to dilate St. Thomas’ definition?
That which when heard, tasted, smelt and touched delights.
Pope Leo XIV – Assumption of Mary into Heaven:
The glorification of Mary, body and soul, teaches us that our true beauty does not lie in hiding the signs of aging, but in revealing the signs of love that never end, and are even impressed on our flesh (1 Corinthians 13:8).
The ramifications are truly significant:
We are invited to reexamine many of the aesthetic standards, predominantly hedonistic and consumerist in our world. These standards risk trapping us in burdensome expectations, causing us to waste precious energy on what does not really matter and does not last forever.
In everyday life, we encounter people whose faces are marked by the years and by suffering, yet who are capable of radiating serenity, kindness and peace around them; just as we may observe others who are perhaps outwardly attractive but hard and cold at heart.
Pope Leo XIV – thank you very much!
AMEN.
