absolutely love the angels, Catholic Pilgrims. I find them fascinating and, also, comforting—it’s a relief knowing they are around to guide and defend us.
The St. Michael Prayer is one of my favorites and I say it pretty often when I need to be strengthened.
The way angels are depicted in the Bible is quite a bit different than many of the cherub angels we see in art. Though angels are pure spirit, lacking a body, they are often depicted in Scripture as being—if I may use the term—frighteningly beautiful.
In the Hagia Sophia, the artists actually tried to depict them as is described in our first reading today from Daniel.
We’ve had a great discussion about beauty this week. So many of you gave me your thoughts on it when I asked about the phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” It’s like we had a virtual coffee meet-up where we talked it out and you all gave me so much to think about.
So much so, that I’m thinking of incorporating many of your answers into a follow-up blog.
My favorite comment of the week from one of you was from Krista.
She said about beauty:
“I definitely used to be someone who would throw this phrase around but, of course, that was before I was Christian. If we, as Christians, understand that God is all that is good, true, and beautiful, and that all that is good, true, and beautiful comes from Him, then it follows that there is an objective definition of each. We know that truth is objective and goodness is objective because they come from God. It follows that beauty is objective, as well. If we say beauty is in “the eye of the beholder,” we are guilty of moral relativism because we are robbing beauty of its source: God.”
That last sentence, Catholic Pilgrims, gives a lot of food for thought.
Have a blessed weekend.
St. Michael, St. Gabriel, and St. Raphael, pray for us!
