Today is Oct. 22, the optional memorial of St. John Paul II, pope.
In today’s readings, St. Paul says, “He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father” (Eph 2:17-18).
On this feast of Pope St. John Paul II, I’d like to invite you to contemplate his deep love for beauty. John Paul II was a student of beauty — in his love for poetry and theatre and the arts, but also his love for the outdoors, the beauty created by the Divine artist. For him, beauty was never shallow or fleeting but always a reflection of God. “Every genuine artistic intuition goes beyond what the senses perceive and, reaching beneath reality’s surface, strives to interpret its hidden mystery,” writes the pope.
John Paul II understood that beauty is not merely a human creation but a glimpse into the mysterious unity of all things, a glimmer of the perfect splendor that has its source in God. For the artist, there is always a gap between what they create and the dazzling perfection they imagine — a gap that humbles even the most gifted of creators. Yet, says John Paul II, this humility is not a limitation but a call to praise. It acknowledges that beauty, in its fullest sense, cannot be confined to human art or imagination but flows from the divine abyss of light, where God himself resides.
As Catholics, we experience moments when we are left speechless before the grandeur of creation, the splendor of a work of art or the depth of prayer. These tastes of beauty are “calls to transcendence,” the pope says. Beauty draws us forth from the dreary day-to-day and calls to our hearts, summoning them higher.
On this feast day, may we be inspired by the glimpses of God in beauty to seek the higher things, knowing that the beauty we encounter is but a reflection of the One who is Beauty itself.
A prayer seeking the intercession of Pope St. John Paul II:
O God, rich in mercy, who willed that Pope Saint John Paul the Second should preside over your universal Church, grant, we pray, that instructed by his teaching, we may confidently open our hearts to the saving grace of Christ, the sole Redeemer of the human race. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
My Daily Visitor spiritual reflections are a dose of daily Catholic inspiration from Our Sunday Visitor magazine.
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