David Bentley Hart on Beauty

Some more in support of a bubble

From The "Beauty of the Infinite", by David Bentley Hart, paperback published by Eerdman's, 2003, pp. 20-21 

'Beauty crosses boundaries.  Among the transcendentals, beauty has always been the most restless upon its exalted perch; the idea of the beautiful -- which somehow requires the sensual to fulfill its "ideal" nature -- can never really be separated from the beauty that lies near at hand.  Beauty traverses being oblivious of the boundaries that divide ideal from real, transcendent from immanent, supernatural from natural, pleasing from profound -- even, perhaps, nature from grace....  Beauty defies our distinctions, calls them into question, and manifests which shows itself despite them: God's glory.  For Christian thought, beauty's indifference to the due order of far and near, great and small, absent and present, spiritual and material should indicate the continuity of divine and created glory, the way the glory of heaven and earth truly declares and belongs to the glory of the infinite God.....  There is, moreover, a marvelous naïveté in the response most immediately provoked by the beautiful....  Theology should ponder how beauty can compel morally by its eccess: it is in the delighted vision of what is other than oneself -- difference, created by the God who differentiates, pleasing in the eyes of the God who takes pleasure -- that one is moved to affirm that otherness, to cherish and respond to it...  Theology... should be not only untroubled by beauty's prodigality, its defiance of so many orderly demarcations, but heartened by it: the beautiful uniquely displays the dynamic involvement of the infinite and the finite, the unmasterable excess contained in the object of beauty, the infinite' s hospitality to the finite....  Beauty crosses every boundary, traverses every series, and so manifests that God who transcends every division -- including, again, that between the transcendent and the immanent.'

Keeping the bubble inflated

A good friend told me once that I live in a bubble. My wife wholeheartedly agrees. In a not so obvious association I was pondering the reasons why I go to daily Mass. The realization finally came that I use the Mass to keep the bubble inflated.

I can pray there and not be looked at askance. I can ponder things like:

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

The wolf shall live with the lamb

The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,

They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain

I can hear promises like:

Those who mourn will be comforted

The meek will inherit the earth

Mercy for the merciful

The sight of God for those who are pure of heart

I can ponder and believe in lofty ideals without the corroding effect of the world’s cynicism. I can do all this with people of a like mind who will be my shield when I take these ideals out into the world. I know I will not be chastised by my fellow worshipers who live in the bubble along with me.

I don’t believe them to be lofty ideals because they are difficult or impossible to attain although that may be true. They are lofty ideas because they elevate the mind above the day to day concerns of our lives. They offer us hope in the face of all the discomfiture we experience out in the “real” world.

So I go to Mass as often as I can to get pumped up, to keep my bubble inflated. May the Lord bless my bubble!

King of Our Hearts

On the cover of the daily Missal at the back of the church is a painting of the Nativity scene. It got me to thinking about those three wise men.

Presumably they were men of accomplishment, wise men, comfortable in their own land. In their country of Persia they were safer than anywhere else. They were more protected from their enemies. What were they thinking when they set out from their homeland? What possible motivation could they have to leave for foreign and possibly hostile lands? After all, they were carrying things of value, gold, frankincense and myrrh. Such possessions were sure to attract the unwanted attention of road thieves and vagabonds. Why subject themselves to such obvious dangers?

They were gentiles and learned as well for they quoted Hebrew Scripture. Being wise they were not lacking in the virtue of prudence. They saw a star. We can appreciate their sensitivity to unusual natural events. We of this modern age have to a large extent removed the dangers inherent in the forces of nature. This has, perhaps, resulted in a lack of awe for all but the most grandiose and catastrophic in nature. But, a brighter than normal, twinkling little star? How often do we city dwellers even bother to look at the stars? How many of us would pack our bags and leave home for a foreign land because we saw a brighter than normal, twinkling little star in the East? There must have been more that moved these wise men.

There must have been a tremendous longing in their hearts. The acquisition of wisdom had led them to believe that there was something missing in their lives. They left their land so they could go and worship a new king who had been born. They had their own king right at home. Somehow, though, they knew it was not an earthy king they sought. These wise men were not just in awe of the natural, but in awe of the supernatural as well. The longing for a supernatural king is what inspired them; the search for a king of the heart.

Can we find the same courage? Can we leave the safety and comfort of the familiar? Can we look past what we can touch and see the intangible? Can we apprehend what is needed to fill that tabernacle in our soul? If we are at all able to do that, the time is now. The Savior is coming; the King of our heart is near.

From a sermon by Saint Anselm, bishop

Anselm of Canterbury (c. 1033 – 21 April 1109),  was a Benedictine monk, a philosopher, and a prelate of the church who held the office of Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109.

The following Marian reflection is from one of his sermons.

Virgin Mary, all nature is blessed in you.

The universe rejoices with new and indefinable loveliness. Not only does it feel the unseen presence of God himself, its Creator, it sees him openly, working and making it holy. These great blessings spring from the blessed fruit of Mary’s womb.
Through the fullness of the grace that was given you, dead things rejoice in their freedom, and those in heaven are glad to be made new. Through the Son who was the glorious fruit of your virgin womb, just souls who died before his life-giving death rejoice as they are freed from captivity, and the angels are glad at the restoration of their shattered domain.
….
God, then, is the Father of the created world and Mary the mother of the re-created world. God is the Father by whom all things were given life, and Mary the mother through whom all things were given new life. For God begot the Son, through whom all things were made, and Mary gave birth to him as the Savior of the world. Without God’s Son, nothing could exist; without Mary’s Son, nothing could be redeemed.

Truly the Lord is with you, to whom the Lord granted that all nature should owe as much to you as to himself.

Another from Irene Zimmerman

"How Can This Be, Since I Am A Virgin?" (Luke 1:34)

Your world hung in the balance of her yes or no .
Yet, "She must feel absolutely free," You said,
and chose with gentle sesitivity not to go
Yourself - to send a messenger instead.

I like to think You listened in at that interview
with smiling admiration and surprise
to that humble child who -
though she didn't amount to much in Jewish eyes,
being merely virgin, not yet come to bloom -
in the presence of that other-wordly Power
crowding down the wall and ceiling of her room,
did not faint or cry or cower
and could not be coerced to enflesh Your covenant,
but asked her valid question first
before she gave her full and free consent.

I like to think You stood
to long applaud such womanhood.

A Poem for the Season

MARY SONG

(Luke 1:39:55)

I ran the road from Nazareth
to share my news, Elizabeth:

I could not bear alone the flame
(my spirit sings God’s sacred name!)

That sears my soul and sets God’s will
ablaze throughout the House of Israel.

The Holy One has come to bless
and fill my waiting emptiness!

Elizabeth, come sing with me.
Your cousin dances with divinity!
                               From Incarnation by Irene Zimmerman

To support one another

From a homily on the Gospel of John by Saint John Chrysostom, bishop

(Hom. 19, 1: PG 59, 120-121)

We have found the Messiah

After Andrew had stayed with Jesus and had learned much from him, he did not keep this treasure to himself, but hastened to share it with his brother. Notice what Andrew said to him: We have found the Messiah, that is to say, the Christ. Notice how his words reveal what he has learned in so short a time. They show the power of the master who has convinced them of this truth. They reveal the zeal and concern of men preoccupied with this question from the very beginning. Andrew’s words reveal a soul waiting with the utmost longing for the coming of the Messiah, looking forward to his appearing from heaven, rejoicing when he does appear, and hastening to announce so great an event to others. To support one another in the things of the spirit is the true sign of good will between brothers, of loving kinship and sincere affection.

The sentence in bold is my emphasis: "support for one another", for me, is the purpose of our group.