TWO BEAUTIES AND THE MOST BEAUTIFUL OF ALL

TWO BEAUTIES AND THE MOST BEAUTIFUL OF ALL

     In Central New England, during the fall of every year, we are treated with various colors of foliage which people to join us in gazing in awe at the yellow, oranges, reds and the in between colors then joyfully talk about this display of beauty with others. How wonderful that the Creator bestows on us sinners, not just food and drink, but such beauty!   In the winter another type of beauty appears with some discomforts from snow and ice. But the whiteness of snow and the  rustic looking trees are endowed with a special beauty. 

     I will never forget the time I was traveling on a connecting hilly road, and suddenly I saw dazzling branches of trees completely covered with  ice and sparkling in the sun. I stopped my car and got out  gazing in awe at the display.  I felt intoxicated by the beauty of thousands of numberless  ice-covered trees, and the bright sun which caused them to sparkle like millions of diamonds. Making the sign of the Cross, I said: Lord what beauty you give us! Words are unabl Ie to  show the beauty.  How beautiful you must be who are the source of all this glorious beauty!  There are many beauties during all seasons, but this was exceptional. There is the beauty of the birds in spring with their sweet music, the beauty of flowers exuding  aromas flashing and bright colors. What goodness and beauty and love is shed upon us men by our Creator.

   There is beauty which is infinitely beyond all other beauty, coming from  Him who is the Source and Creator of all beauties. This beauty  is Logos Jesus Christ, the Son of God, timelessly being born of the Father and in time of the Virgin Theotokos. Not the physical beauty, but the inner beauty and divine majesty of the Godman, reveals to us the most beautiful person in heaven and on earth. His real beauty cannot be seen by sinful human eyes but only  when He opens the spiritual eyes of our souls.  If we turn warmly to the beautiful Christ, with firm faith in our heart, and with devotion in our souls and like the blind man in the Gospel, ask that Him to cure the blindness of our souls and open our spiritual eyes, then His spiritual beauty will be revealed. And we will never wish to turn from Him. If we make a small effort, He will open our eyes enabling us to see things we never saw before. 

     With Mary and Martha, upon seeing Him weeping for four-day dead  Lazarus, will pierce our  hearts and reveal His deep love and emotion for the deceased and his sisters with whom He wept. This great divine-human emotion is described by the Evangelist with two words: “Jesus wept.”  Here stands the Logos of God, the Creator of man, sympathizing with the mourners and joining them with His own tears as expressed in words: “Jesus wept.” Visible are the physical tears, but with spiritual eyes we can see the spiritual tears, the sympathy, compassion and love of the God who created us.

     An even greater is another great event, showing His beauty combined with divine power, for in His divine human voice He commands: “Lazarus come forth.”  Death immediately released its grip on Lazarus. Wit Christ’s words: “Lazarus come forth.”  His words poured back life  into Lazarus’ soul. The hideousness and foul odor of death is quickly put to flight as Four-day dead   Lazarus, obeying the command which released death’s grip he returns back to life. Lazarus now risen from the realm of death reflects in his countenance the great beauty of Christ His Lord. The joy and exultation that now  overflows in the countenances of Martha and Mary reflecting the beauty of Jesus Christ. With great joy, we see our beloved Godman, beautiful to behold, who spoke divine wisdom and did nothing but good. He gave hearing to the deaf, speech to the mute, sight to the blind, and cured the  paralytics, now dancing merrily about rejoicing in the Lord’s goodness and compassion and their return to wholesomeness. 

     Wherever He went Jesus attracted great crowds by His divine-human beauty. No man talked with such graciousness, spoke with such wisdom and showed such complete love as the Godman. The soldiers whose task was to arrest Jesus, testify to this, for they were enthralled by His majesty causing them to fail in their mission to arrest Him. When they returned without Him, they were asked why they did not take Him, they replied saying: “No man ever spoke like this man.” They were overcome by Christ’s beauty and could not move against Him.  Christ’s words being filled with grace, power and authority, differed from words of others, rendering it impossible for them to take Him: Their report became part of the Gospel account: “Never did a man speak like this man.”    

     Men who were previously blind men rejoiced when the Light of the world, flooded into their eyes enabling  them to see worldly light, bestowed upon them by the Light from heaven. The beauty they experienced is this, that their eyes were opened and the physical light poured in making everything around them visible.  But another set of eyes were opened at the same time, and with  their spiritual eyes, they saw that Jesus was the Son of David and the Messiah or Christ, who they then follow as He leads them to eternal life and happiness.

     In the world most men usually see only external beauty, but beneath that external beauty is often found ugliness in the form of egotism, arrogance and misery, for external appearance are not genuine beauty, and sin often lurks in them.; Genuine appearance is to be found in the upright person. Let us look at Christ’s internal beauty.  What attracted so many to him was His supreme virtues which radiated from His person.  The aura surrounded him  revealed to some his supreme kindness, His great sympathy and compassion, and especially His unconditional love, For this love is a special aspect of His beauty, which we attracts all of us, for He is the only Lover of man, The greatness of His beauty is that when we were ugly, rebellious and sinful, He in His great love willingly and with great forbearance, suffered His Passion which He suffered for us and willingly and He endured the Cross for us. All that He suffered came out of His great and beautiful love for us sinners.

How beautiful Christ really is can also begin to be understood by His forbearance and patience, for He desired to impart His  perfect beauty to each of us, by reforming us to become like Him. We glorify Saints, Confessors and Martyrs who have become His image and likeness reflecting not only Christ’s beauty but their acquired beauty upon all creation.  

     In the beginning, God  chose to create man completely out of clay, but then He breathed  into Adam and all of us,  a life-creating spirit, and by this spirit bestowed upon us freedom, intellect and feelings, with an active will to make choices and  decisions that are good and holy.  What has God wrought?   Out of  love He has given us the greatest gift possible, a gift for which we ought to glorify  Hin day and night. Yes we should thank Him for this temporary life, but we need to remember that the real life is the life in Christ, concerning which, Christ says: “Whoever believe in me shall never die/” The eternal life does not begin after we die, it begins here and now in this present world by our faith in Christ, our holy Baptism and the gift of Holy Spirit.

     Jesus is our Head; our Bridegroom; and our Savior; Jesus is the perfect example of what we must all become. When we learn to love Jesus we will begin to see His perfect beauty desiring it for ourselves more and more. Everything comes from the Lord Jesus Christ. All that we possess is given through Jesus Christ. But the greatest gift He offers is the sharing of His divine beauty in the kingdom of God in this world and in the world to come. When we are poor in spirit and  approach Christ in sincere faith, we became wealthy in spirit causing hope and love to spring up in our souls.