BURNING HEART

_______________________________________________

"And this brings me to the other sense of glory--glory as brightness, splendour, luminosity. We are to shine as the sun, we are to be given the Morning Star. I think I begin to see what it means. In one way, of course, God has given us the Morning Star already: you can go and enjoy the gift on many fine mornings if you get up early enough. What more, you may ask, do we want? Ah, but we want so much more--something the books on aesthetics take little notice of. But the poets and the mythologies know all about it. We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words--to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it. That is why we have peopled air and earth and water with gods and goddesses and nymphs and elves--that, though we cannot, yet these projections can, enjoy in themselves that beauty grace, and power of which Nature is the image. That is why the poets tell us such lovely falsehoods. They talk as if the west wind could really sweep into a human soul; but it can’t. They tell us that “beauty born of murmuring sound” will pass into a human face; but it won’t. Or not yet. For if we take the imagery of Scripture seriously, if we believe that God will one day give us the Morning Star and cause us to put on the splendour of the sun, then we may surmise that both the ancient myths and the modern poetry, so false as history, may be very near the truth as prophecy. At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendours we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumour that it will not always be so. Some day, God willing, we shall get in. When human souls have become as perfect in voluntary obedience as the inanimate creation is in its lifeless obedience, then they will put on its glory, or rather that greater glory of which Nature is only the first sketch. For you must not think that I am putting forward any heathen fancy of being absorbed into Nature. Nature is mortal; we shall outlive her. When all the suns and nebulae have passed away, each one of you will still be alive. Nature is only the image, the symbol; but it is the symbol Scripture invites me to use. We are summoned to pass in through Nature, beyond her, into that splendour which she fitfully reflects."

~ C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

_______________________________________________

I have a burning heart + I have aching hands.  My heart is in love with Beauty, and seeks it as the greatest desire, and my hands ache to echo, albeit feebly, the greatness that fills me with a nostalgic, almost sorrowful, longing.  I'm walking with Christ; we're together on the road to Emmaus, and as He speaks gently to me, my heart is indeed burning with love and unspeakable joy.

And, almost painfully, I’m reminded by the ache in my heart that I must create.  CSL said it perfectly.  “We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words--to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it.”  It is not enough, for me (or, indeed, I believe, for all) to have glimpsed without greatly desiring to enter deeper and deeper into the mystery and wonder.  It's not the kind of question to accept a "maybe" as a satisfactory answer.  No, Beauty's not like that.  It's a fierce, all-or-nothing deal.  Already, I'm being drawn into the Beauty.  For me, the sketch, the photograph, the calligraphy, the tune from the cello or the piano or the Irish whistle, the song from my soul, all these are small bits of my heart that I’m going to share with the world, so that the world may be inspired to wonder + goodness, and thus, sanctified.  So I'm going to devote my life to this Beauty, and in little ways, I'm going to make my life a stunning portfolio, radiant with the goodness of God. 

_______________________________________________

Artists of the world, may your many different paths all lead to that infinite

O C E A N         of         B E A U T Y

where wonder becomes awe, exhilaration, unspeakable joy.

~ Saint John Paul II 

_______________________________________________