Awakening Our Awe of God Through Beauty
By Magdalene Sestak
The final Gift of the Holy Spirit is Fear of the Lord, which is being in total reverence for the majesty of God and the beauty of His creation- not being afraid of Him! Therefore, it is sometimes referred to as Awe in the Presence of God. When I was going through the Confirmation process and reflections at thirteen years old, Awe in the Presence of God always hit home the most and when I later taught the Confirmation classes in high school, I found the most joy in explaining this Gift. It came easily for me because I could see God in tangible, physical beauty. This could be in the sky He paints each day and night, the way the rain falls, the laugh of your friend, truly anything that points and moves you towards God’s love. It is a gift to notice God reaching out to us directly through the beauty He places in our path each day. We can learn how to use this beauty we encounter to redirect our spiritual senses to be in true Awe in the Presence of God.
This past year, I had the opportunity to live in Rome, Italy and study at a university within the Vatican and it was truly one of the greatest blessings I have ever received. It was the time I became the most aware of God’s presence in every aspect of my life. Everywhere you turn, there are church bells ringing, priests and nuns conversing in Italian, and light pouring in through stained glass windows.
The thing is, the beauty of all the Catholic churches at my disposal became overwhelming. I became more focused on seeing God in the physical beauty rather than the spiritual beauty that transpired within the walls of the Church. There is an actual psychological disorder called Stendhal Syndrome, which is when you experience rapid heartbeat, numbness, fairness, etc. in the presence of overwhelming beauty. I don’t know if I experienced this, but as a college student studying art history I often felt completely numb while in the presence of artistic masterpieces and cathedrals. It is so easy to get caught up in the awe of physical beauty, rather than awe of God’s presence. But we must realize that everything physical that is beautiful was created by Him; He created man’s hands to build these glorious structures for God himself to call home.
My challenge became to find the same astonishment in the emotional and spiritual, rather than just the physical and tangible. Everything of physical beauty has been designed by God with us in mind, as a means to bring us into communion with Him. These ornate and intricate churches were built with God’s intent to provide us with a glimpse of the beauty that transcends each time Transubstantiation occurs.
At the end of the day, churches radiate so much grandeur because they are the physical house of God on Earth. We must use physical beauty, then, to set our eyes on the greater image of His Heavenly home. Through the physical we are seeing only the smallest fraction of beauty He will provide us spiritually and emotionally, both in Heaven and throughout our lives on Earth. May we see God in earthly beauty but realize that he is beyond the confines of the physical, although it is the easiest to see in our lives. Let us remember, then, that every time this awe floods our hearts, whether in the physical, emotional, or spiritual realms, it is asking us to turn our eyes to the Creator of beauty Himself.
