Beauty Free From Utility

Science can’t explain why something is beautiful…  Yet, one of the paths that constantly connects people to God is beauty.  The liberal arts are not practical, but in their impracticality lies a secret passage towards the majesty of God.  Hum… When I was younger I always used to think that I was useless because my talents were so impractical.  In Mexico, my sister had gone to several trade schools; nursing and seamstry gave her skills that made her a creator an asset to the community.  People sought her for dress making or nurse related reasons.  However, my talents “book smarts” (writing and an avid reader) didn’t compare with the hands on talents I saw in all members of my clan: mom a great cook, dad a great farmer, brothers a super mechanic and construction worker…  Being part of a family with so many talents that helped the community always made me feel like a weirdo.  Other than perhaps using a book as a weapon in the case of a robbery- I didn’t see my skills as gifts that benefitted anyone else other than give me great enjoyment.  Then I returned to the Catholic Church and I saw the Cathedral walls covered in art, the windows in colorful stained-glass and heard poetry from the pulpit.  You would think that these encounters with beauty would serve as encouragement; but, I criticized the church misunderstanding why we keep all this beauty- instead of selling it to help feed the poor.

Last night, I went to a concert with my buddy to enjoy a band that we mutually like.  The stadium was quite full and I thought we all seek beauty whether in music, film, poetry, art… BECAUSE Man can’t live on bread alone, he needs another type of sustenance a sustenance that feeds the soul in ways that a meal cannot.  There has always been this fight between those who think that nothing in the world is God so we must reject everything in the world and what our church teaches that everything in the world speaks of God and can lead us to Him.  When I went to Rome, I remember entering the city and seeing many large statues of the saints on the rooftop of a church, I looked admiringly at the art before me and I had tears in my eyes because I knew that I was surrounded by God.  Those larger than life statues showed me that God is always close.  That’s when I understood that beauty leads people to God and our Church guards these artistic masterpieces because they draw us closer to Him.  The liberal arts are impractical, but it’s this impracticality that makes them so endearing- because a true writer like a true artist writes simply to create beauty free from utility.  A beauty that ascends towards the heavenly realms because “the heart has its reasons that reason knows not.”

As I sang along to some of my favorite songs with HA*ASH I thanked God for giving us the arts because a life with music, poetry and art sure elevates the soul (smile).