Divine Worship: Beautifying the Soul

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In His perfect genius, God creates man in His own image and likeness. Therefore man must be beautiful because man is fashioned to be in the image and likeness of Beauty Himself. The soul is beautiful, not in view of vogue standards, but in the sense of the truest beauty of all its creation to be like the Creator.

We must constantly strive to see the beauty of every person around us. We are called to grow in the beauty of holiness which makes us more and more like God. See in the people around you souls linked to the Almighty Father who sees and knows all their wounds and all their heartaches. It is the call of every Christian to reach out in love to those who are broken and who do not know their beauty. Help others around you to know their worth and their beauty. There is nothing more valuable than the people who are here with us on the journey to the Promised Land. Through the beauty of people, we experience the love of the Father and the gift of His beauty. The next time you see a glorious sunset or a mountain that moves you to tears, look into the eyes of a loved one and see the greater beauty there.

Sister Shawn Pauline O.C.D.

The beautification of the soul, of the whole person, is a work of God. God is inviting us into communion with Him. Do we respond and receive His gift, or do we reject the invitation to newness of life? Do we cooperate with Him to embrace His work in and through us, or do we remain in the comfort of self reliance and conceit? Do we trust God, do we have faith in Him?

Renewal

Authentic renewal in Christ begins and ends with Eucharistic fellowship. We are reminded that the Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life.

(T)he Eucharist is the 'source and summit of the Christian life' in that the Eucharist is the culmination of God's saving actions in Jesus Christ and of our worship and union with Him who leads us to the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit (CCC1322-1346).

The life of God is sustained in us, grows in us, with our reception of Jesus in the public worship of God designed and acted in by Jesus, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Consider the following hymn:

  1. O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! Bow down before him, his glory proclaim; With gold of obedience, and incense of lowliness, Kneel and adore him, the Lord is his name!
  2. Low at his feet lay thy burden of carefulness, High on his heart he will bear it for thee, Comfort thy sorrows, and answer thy prayerfulness, Guiding thy steps as may best for thee be.
  3. Fear not to enter his courts in the slenderness Of the poor wealth thou wouldst reckon as thine: Truth in its beauty, and love in its tenderness, These are the offerings to lay on his shrine.
  4. These, though we bring them in trembling and fearfulness, He will accept for the name that is dear; Mornings of joy give for evenings of tearfulness, Trust for our trembling and hope for our fear.
  5. O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! Bow down before him, his glory proclaim; With gold of obedience, and incense of lowliness, Kneel and adore him, the Lord is his name!
JOHN SAMUEL BEWLEY MONSELL, 1811–1875
MUSIC: REINHARDT MS, 1754

Points to Ponder
  1. Bow down before him, his glory proclaim. Bowing before the Lord usually requires that one acknowledge one's place in the grand scheme of things. We are creatures fashioned in the image and likeness of God. We are sinners and we are in constant need of God's grace to sustain us and help us grow in holiness, in likeness to God. Kneel and adore him, the Lord is his name!
  2. Thy burden of carefulness. We place our needs in prayer before the Lord. Jesus, like us in all ways but sin, hears all, sees all, and bears our wounds, receiving our crosses into Himself, and transforms our suffering into wisdom and love, mercy and forgiveness, entering into our wounds and comforting us. High on his heart he will bear it for thee, Comfort thy sorrows, and answer thy prayerfulness.
  3. Truth in its beauty, and love in its tenderness, These are the offerings to lay on his shrine. The hymn text helps us glimpse that to which we must give priority. We require the grace of God to help us, to purify our offering of self.
  4. Trust for our trembling and hope for our fear. We recall the words of Scripture - Philippians 2:12-13 | Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
  5. Bow down before him, his glory proclaim; With gold of obedience, and incense of lowliness. In the Liturgy we are afforded the opportunity to receive visual reminders of invisible realities. Therein the Mass, we may graft our intentions to prayers of the Mass. Obedience and lowliness are the openings in our hearts and minds and spirits through which the Lord may beautify our lives, to perfect nature. Gratia non tollit naturam, sed perficit, 'Grace does not destroy nature, but perfects it' (Saint Thomas Aquinas).
Cooperation with the Holy Ghost

Do you pray that God's will be done in your life?

Do you pray for the grace that beautifies your intentions?

Do you ask your guardian angel to assist you in prayer and in your daily acts, to configure your life daily to Jesus' command to love one as he loves us?

Do the words 'fear' and 'trembling' cause you concern? Acknowledging the Presence of the Lord should inspire awe and due respect for God, the Creator of the universe and Lord of all. Trembling? Have you ever been moved to the point of trembling because you are so in love with another person?

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