Returning from my 40 days of reflection and prayer, I have received a renewed focus and energy for posting articles on the INTO THE WEST blog. I will return to the habit of having a primary “theme” for each month’s posts and plan on posting a few times each month. This will provide a sure basis and guide that I will be able to accomplish, thus securing the quality of the content on this blog.
To start out, I will continue posting on the Resurrection (Part of the Great “Eucatastrophe” of History) and will introduce the secondary theme for this month: “Beauty.” Both of these themes are interrelated for the Resurrection’s beauty points us to the Eternal Beatitude of Heaven; the place where the very Source of Beauty dwells.
Easter Beauty
The entire season of Easter is also a season of external beauty when our churches are resplendent in the joy of Christ’s Resurrection. Great time and effort is made by parishioners leading up to the feast of Easter to make sure churches are full of flowers that speak loudly the language of new life. Many engaged couples set their wedding date to be during this holy season knowing that it is the time of the year when churches are at their finest. This external beauty we see is an expression of our interior joy. We can not help but shout to the world that Christ is risen and so we fill our churches with the joy that comes from within.
Courtesy of Fr. John Saward
Courtesy of Fr. John Saward
Tolkien experienced this beauty first hand at his parish church of “Saint Gregory’s” (though officially the Church of SS Gregory & Augustine). If you look at these two images of Tolkien’s parish church (courtesy of Fr. John Saward), you will recognize a simple beauty that makes you feel at home. These pictures were taken at Easter time and are fitting images to be displayed during this joyous season. I can see why Tolkien would have become a parishioner here. However, he also frequented the Church of Saint Aloysius which in a sense is the opposite of the quaint parish church of Saint Gregory’s. Yet both churches are important (as well as the various churches of his youth) for they formed in him a sense of the beautiful. They spoke to him without words and elevated his mind and heart to the Eternal. Tolkien spent many hours of his life in prayer at these churches, going to daily Mass and attending the 40 Hours devotion. It was in these churches that his love of the Eucharist was fostered and nourished. Tolkien and his wife would eventually be buried in Wolvercote Cemetery, which is on the grounds of SS Gregory & Augustine.
Beauty Elevates
Beauty is an aspect of our world that speaks most clearly of God. Beauty elevates us and brings us out of ourselves into the Eternal. That is why beautiful art and literature are essential to the success of a culture. Without beauty, the culture is dull and drab and the minds and hearts of its citizens are left to contemplate the ordinariness of life. Instead of dwelling upon the heights, they are brought down low and seek ways to mask their pain.
As a great summary of the power of beauty, I will leave you with a short meditation by Father Robert Barron where he explains how beauty will captivate the world. In particular, he uses the example of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bBMOwZFpZX0