Beauty is that innate quality of a person, place, or thing that arouses wonder and love. Beautiful things can be magnificent as the high mountain or small and lowly as the grass. Everything beautiful draws its beauty from the Creator. Mountains reflect the greatness of God, while grass is a sign of His humility. The mountain is lord of all it sees, while the grass consents to being walked upon. A mountain range is a breathtaking sight, but grass is the smallest of creatures, easily overlooked. And so the virtues are beautiful, virtues such as humility, as the grass is humble, and magnanimity, which is greatness of soul like the towering mountain. And the soul that cultivates virtue is the most beautiful thing of all.
On the Beauty of Virtue
The virtuous soul is beautiful because it has been burnished by the hand of its Creator. To seek virtue is to grow to love God and His virtues. A soul can love being small in humility, can love courage, can delight in patience. The soul that loves God begins to draw its life from God, the source of all virtue, and then becomes more beautiful still. "My soul is touched by God and wholly absorbs itself in Him… Permeated by God to its very depths, it drowns in His beauty" (Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, no. 767). A soul can love her Creator so much that the love of God begins to flow into the world through her. Everything that God does is beautiful, and so everything that the virtuous soul does turns to beauty as well.
On the Beauty of Our Destiny
We are offered a beautiful destiny, a forever of forevers in heaven with God. Jesus says, "Let the children come to Me, and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these" (Mt 19:14). Heaven belongs to the childlike. Children possess a beauty all their own. They have nothing between them and God. We become more childlike as we grow in love for God. A person lives a beautiful life when he has sacrificed everything in order to have nothing before his Creator. Then he will be filled with the perfection of virtue and will be an heir to all that God has to give him. A soul so adorned is filled with the riches of God's grace and knows how to love perfectly. Such a one has a great destiny in heaven.
On the Beauty of Suffering
God has turned even our suffering into something beautiful. Suffering is a gift from God that has been entrusted to us. Our trials are beautiful because, united to the suffering of Jesus on the Cross, they are the seed of the new creation. We can seek virtue through suffering, virtues such as patience and steadfastness. And through the redemption of suffering God is creating the new heavens and the new earth. Nothing is ever wasted in the economy of God. Every tear is remembered, and every moment of anguish, in order that all may be repaid at the renewal of all things. "God will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, for the old order has passed away" (Rv 21:4).
On the Beauty of the Judgment
We look forward to the day of our Lord's return. On that day the true consequences of each human life will be made manifest. Those who have cultivated virtue will find their souls are made magnificent, shining glorious in the sunshine of an eternal springtime. And the whole world will be remade in beauty. "The one who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.' The holy city Jerusalem gleamed with the splendor of God. Its radiance was like that of a precious stone, like jasper, clear as crystal. Then the angel showed me the river of life-giving water, sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb" (Rv 21:5, 11; 22:1). On that day, Beauty will be all-in-all. Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!
