True Beauty

So we were doing our Spiritual Exercise this morning and the topic was "gifts." One of the sentences for mediation (put together by our founder) said this, "Virtue purifies us from the ugliness and disorder of sin, bringing beauty, strength and joy."

Hmmmmm.......let's ponder that for a moment. The true ugliness, the worst thing in the world, is sin. Most people think death and suffering is the worst thing the world, but that can actually be the best thing in the world. Sin makes things ugly.

I saw this great ad in a magazine that was acutally for a drug for liver disease or something but it showed a close up is this guy with his face all bruised up and scratched, looking like he just had the tar beat out of him, and the caption read something like this 'if liver disease were attacking your face, you'd do something about it.' Good point.

If our sin was attacking our face, we'd do something about it...

The sneaky thing about sin is that it attacks our soul. It devours our soul and robs it of it's beauty. Mortal sin kills the life of grace in our soul, but venial sin too, mars the image and likeness of God within us. While mortal sin is like breaking the window of our soul, venial sin is like specks of mud that, over time, reduce the amount of light and clarity of the window of our soul.

Everyone today is talking about the Academy Awards from last night and what everyone was wearing and how beautiful they looked. That's the world's idea of beauty, that what is on the outside counts, forget about within, what's a soul anyway?

If our sin was attacking our face, we'd do something about it...

The practice of virtue, goodness in its various forms, makes us beautiful. It frees the soul from the ugliness and stench of sin and makes it holy, while making us happy. We are happy when we do what is good. We are truly happy when we follow the plan that God has for us. True joy, the kind that Jesus gives, the kind that no one else can give and that no one else can take away, comes from being one with Him, allowing Him to mold into something magnificent, the person we were originally created to be. This repeated practice of what is good, true and beautiful strengthens us and gives us joy.

The world wants to dictate the rules of beauty. It tells you that beauty lies in how you look and also in all the other external things. You won't ever open a Cosmopolitan or Glamour magazine and find an article about how going to Confession cleanses your soul and recreates you, that you walk out of the Confessional a brand new person every time. No. You will read about plastic surgery, immodest clothing and promiscuity. Gee, sounds happy....

Don't buy into it. Don't buy into it in even little ways. Live the truth. "Become who you were born to be."

Remember that your soul is where your beauty lies. Why? Because you are made in the image and likeness of God. And that something that no one can take away.

Comments

Anonymous said…
That's... beautiful.

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Fr. Santan Pinto, SOLT 1948-2011