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Beauty bypasses the intellect and goes straight to the heart. This is why it is the secret weapon of Catholic evangelization. It entangles you in an invisible net that you don’t even know you are caught in. I first experienced this as a child, while attending one of the most beautiful churches in the USA - St. Anthony Cathedral Basilica in Beaumont, TX (pictured to the right).
St Anthony is a stunning church. As is frequently the case with beauty, it is hard to describe with words. In fact, it seems only poems or songs are able to do justice to beautiful things. Like a relationship you are unable to fully explain, sometimes thoughts and words just get in the way. Beauty captures our attention and rests heavy on us. When I was 8 years old, my experiences of having my eyes raised to the stained glass windows and paintings of St. Anthony helped numb my disinterest in the homilies I was hearing. My heart cared, when my mind didn’t.
Those early experiences stuck with me and I am still moved by beauty. The voices of hundreds of monks singing vespers. A Texas sunset. A newborn baby. St. Anthony Cathedral Basilica. When the heart is moved by beauty, it can lead to something even more beautiful - an encounter with the one who is beauty itself - God. This is what our hearts are crying out for. Not just the things around us that echo beauty, but the one who is the origin of it all. We are made to be in the presence of a God who can fulfill the desire we have for beautiful things. This is why beauty is the primordial way of evangelization.PILGRIMS TO THE HOLY DOORS
I recently returned from a pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi. My wife and I spent 10 days in Italy, praying our way through the Holy Doors, churches, and experiences of these places. It was the first time we have been to Italy and was a truly magnificent time. We had multiple encounters with God while on pilgrimage and almost all of them were through beautiful things.
Praying at the tombs of St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Monica, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Francis, St. Pope John Paul II, etc. These encounters with friends who lived beautiful lives deeply impacted us both. Experiencing a physical closeness to Saints that chose to allow God to transform them is something which brought us to tears. Like any visit to the tomb of a loved one, visiting the resting place of our heroes, the Saints, was a moving experience. In one church we wandered into, I sat down and quickly found myself starting to get emotional and yet having no logical explanation why. The church we were in certainly wasn't the grandest or most beautiful church in Rome. I got up from the pew and went in front of the main altar, where I read that St. Marcellus I was buried there. My confirmation Saint. I wept. God set me up by bypassing all thought and reason. Beauty entangled me.
(Papal Basilica of St. Peter)Another experience of beauty was (of course) in the churches. In particular, I loved the Papal Basilicas of St. Peter’s and Saint Paul Outside the Walls (how could anyone not love these churches). St. Peter’s is so majestic and filled with beauty. Words truly cannot describe how grandiose it is. The relics. The art. The dome. All of it. St. Paul Outside the Walls is also very large and pretty, but something else struck me there. For many years I have loved the bright facade. Seeing it in person was a surreal experience. Knowing that I was standing there seeing it with my own eyes and not on a screen or in a book was powerful. Then going inside and praying at the tomb of St. Paul, who is another hero of mine, shook me deeply. Beauty caught me.
DON'T SETTLE FOR OK
The lesson for Catholic evangelists and leaders is that we can’t settle for the ordinary, mundane, or average. We have to aspire to that which is excellent, extraordinary, and beautiful. Yes, this takes more time, effort, and expense. Building St. Peter’s Basilica or carving the Pieta isn’t cheap or quick, but they have both transcended the ages and been the impetus for many conversions. Writing a great book or composing a song isn’t something to be taken lightly.
When I helped run St. Mary’s Catholic Center at Texas A&M, we had standing room crowds for most Masses. We wanted to build a new church, but one that would be big enough to grow into. Yet we also wanted to make it beautiful. We knew this would be a lot of hard work and a huge price tag. I sat in hundreds of hours of meetings for this church, with plans always changing. The cost was a constantly moving target that seemed out of reach. We had others in the diocese tell us it was too high. The end result? A gorgeous new church that seats about 1,500 people.
(Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls)It was worth it all.
Lives will be changed through many generations because of this building and what happens inside it.
(St. Mary's Catholic Center)Furthermore, we can’t merely settle for slightly better than average either. The music we pick to sing in mass matters and should be done thoughtfully. Is it appropriate for Mass? Is it truly worship of God or all about what we feel? Is it beautiful? The art we put in our churches should reflect the beauty and goodness we find in God’s creation.
The expense it takes to renovate an ugly church (built in an age where beauty was an afterthought) is worth it.
Nobody excitedly calls family to come outside and look at the dull grey sky. But, a stunning sunset might make them do so.
Few buy books with bad poetry.
Mundane music doesn't last more than a few generations.
Nobody flies halfway around the world to visit an average church.
To work at building, making, or creating something lasting and beautiful is worth it all.Yet, a holy life is THE most beautiful thing we can offer God. A Catholic life well-lived will echo through the ages. Evangelization is primarily about glorifying God, helping others get to heaven, and becoming saints ourselves. Therefore, the humility we may have to choose in order to grow as evangelists and leaders ourselves is worth it. Choose to sit at the feet of a spiritual director, mentor, or coach. Choose to get additional training as an evangelist. Choose to admit we can’t do it alone.
(Basilica of St Francis of Assisi)These are beautiful things. Choose beauty. Evangelize the world. John Paul II put it this way:“May the beauty which you pass on to generations still to come be such that it will stir them to wonder! Faced with the sacredness of life and of the human person, and before the marvels of the universe, wonder is the only appropriate attitude.
“From this wonder there can come that enthusiasm of which Norwid spoke in the poem to which I referred earlier. People of today and tomorrow need this enthusiasm if they are to meet and master the crucial challenges which stand before us. Thanks to this enthusiasm, humanity, every time it loses its way, will be able to lift itself up and set out again on the right path. In this sense it has been said with profound insight that “beauty will save the world”.
“Beauty is a key to the mystery and a call to transcendence. It is an invitation to savour life and to dream of the future. That is why the beauty of created things can never fully satisfy. It stirs that hidden nostalgia for God which a lover of beauty like Saint Augustine could express in incomparable terms: “Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new: late have I loved you!”.”
-JPII, Letter to Artists, April 4, 1999
