Beauty, Ever Ancient, Ever New…Ever to be Sought
If there such a thing as a ‘science’ to beauty, we derive it from the Greeks, who posited three criteria to this most elusive, yet most evident, concept: Integrity – does a thing have all its parts? – proportion – are these various parts in harmony with one another? – and clarity (or ‘honestas’) – does the thing signify, or shine forth, what it is, and what it is meant to be? Saint Thomas refers to these in his treatise on the Trinity (cf., I, q.39, a.8), and why not, for is not God the most beautiful, and the source of all beauty?
All material creation is beautiful, and just as there is a science of beauty, so too there is a beauty to science, and the study of nature. Kepler’s planetary laws, Maxwell’s electromagnetic equations, Bernoulli’s theorem, are not highly accurate, but also beautiful in their simplicity. When Einstein first examined the mathematical theorem of Father Georges Lemaitre, extending his own General Theory of Relativity, leading eventually to the theory of the Big Bang – the great scientist muttered sotto voce, ‘tres joli, tres, tres, tres joli’ – very beautiful, very, very, very beautiful’.
The pinnacle of material creation, Man and Woman made in His image, conformed to His likeness in re-birth, reflects God’s beauty most of all, far more to be found in or souls, than our bodies.
Hence, the moral life is also beautiful, when lived well and fully. A moral decision, and consequent act, is right when it is not missing anything, when it is proportionate, and when it helps us to be more who we are meant to be. Families, become what you are! cried Pope John Paul II.
Sinful actions are wrong not for so much for what they are, but for what they are not. They are missing something, or disproportionate, or just not what we are meant to do, here and now. Fornication is wrong not because sex is bad – It’s just that missing the commitment and openness to life implied in the marital bond. Lying may have many justifications, but, at the end of the day, it’s a deliberate distortion of the truth. Gluttony is a sin, not because food is bad, but the amount of food is more than we is proper. Sin is always ugly, even if it attract us by superficial attraction. (And don’t get me started on tattoos.)
Evil, in a word, is the privation of good, wherein something is missing or distorted, like a smear of red paint or a funny moustache on the Mona Lisa (or me trying to copy the masterpiece). We may even say that the greater the good, the greater the evil. Corruptio optimi pessima, wrote the poet Juvenal, the corruption of the best is the worst. Satan was once one of the highest of angels. Something has to be very good to be very evil, and very ugly.
So beauty – integrity, proportion, clarity – applies to people, things, moral acts, music, art, cosmological theories, the Sun and everything under it, and, yes, ultimately, to God, the source and exemplar of all things beautiful.
Dostoyevsky said that beauty suffering will save the world. Perhaps so, for that may be the only way people can recognize it. By realizing what they have wounded and lost, they may with repentance heal and gain back, before it is too late.
Carney’s Amoral Majority
After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→
A Closed, Unsustainable, Descending Loop
As a follow-up to my thoughts on Payette’s payout, here be a stark image of where are here in Canada. As the graph shows in, well, graphic terms, since 2025, the public sector has contributed to 95.5% of economic growth. The private sector – which funds the public sector, or is supposed to – has[…]Continue reading→
Remembering Father Alphonse de Valk
(Today marks the sixth anniversary of the death of Father Alphonse de Valk, C.S.B., a faithful, courageous and indefatigable Basilian priest, pro-life-and-family apostle, and the founder of Catholic Insight magazine. Here is what we wrote those on his entering into eternity five years ago, as we continue to remember him in our prayers and thoughts)[…]Continue reading→
A Tale of Two Benedicts
A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→
Presidential Pardon of Weronika Krawczyk
As a good news, follow-up to our story from Poland, of the persecution of Weronika Krawczyk for her pro-life views, we heard that she has been granted a presidential pardon. One might still wonder why one needs a presidential pardon for simply holding the long-held belief that the child within the womb is a child,[…]Continue reading→
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→
The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus
As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→
Pope Leo and a Rosary for Peace
Pope Leo XIV has asked Catholics across the world to join him in a Rosary for peace today, at 18:00 Rome time (6 pm), which would be noon from where I write (EST). If you are able, whether at that time or another, and in whatever way you pray, to join in intercession with the[…]Continue reading→
Payette’s Payout
I was glancing through some headlines, and noticed a mention of Julie Payette – engineer and astronaut and sometime the Queen’s representative in Canada – which brought back vague memories. She was appointed Governor-General by Justin Trudeau in 2017. Ms. Payette resigned in 2021, amidst claims that she created a ‘toxic work environment’, with allegations[…]Continue reading→
Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów
We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→