AND THE four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all round and within, and day and night they never cease to sing, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!" And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne, singing, "Worthy art thou, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou didst create all things, and by thy will they existed and were created." [Rev 4:8-11]
 
Artist: Victor Luciano Rebuffo
(1903 - 1983)
Buenos Aires, Argentina

CHURCH'S LITURGY

THIS RELATIONSHIP between creed and worship is evidenced in a particular way by the rich theological and liturgical category of beauty. Like the rest of Christian Revelation, the liturgy is inherently linked to beauty: it is veritatis splendor. The liturgy is a radiant expression of the paschal mystery, in which Christ draws us to himself and calls us to communion.

AS SAINT Bonaventure would say, in Jesus we contemplate beauty and splendour at their source. This is no mere aestheticism, but the concrete way in which the truth of God's love in Christ encounters us, attracts us and delights us, enabling us to emerge from ourselves and drawing us towards our true vocation, which is love. God allows himself to be glimpsed first in creation, in the beauty and harmony of the cosmos.

IN THE Old Testament we see many signs of the grandeur of God's power as he manifests his glory in his wondrous deeds among the Chosen People. In the New Testament this epiphany of beauty reaches definitive fulfilment in God's revelation in Jesus Christ:  Christ is the full manifestation of the glory of God. In the glorification of the Son, the Father's glory shines forth and is communicated.

YET THIS beauty is not simply a harmony of proportion and form; "the fairest of the sons of men"  [Psa 45:2]  is also, mysteriously, the one "who had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him"  [Isa 53:2].

JESUS CHRIST shows us how the truth of love can transform even the dark mystery of death into the radiant light of the resurrection. Here the splendour of God's glory surpasses all worldly beauty. The truest beauty is the love of God, who definitively revealed himself to us in the paschal mystery.

THE BEAUTY of the liturgy is part of this mystery; it is a sublime expression of God's glory and, in a certain sense, a glimpse of heaven on earth. The memorial of Jesus' redemptive sacrifice contains something of that beauty which Peter, James and John beheld when the Master, making his way to Jerusalem, was transfigured before their eyes.

BEAUTY, THEN, is not mere decoration, but rather an essential element of the liturgical action, since it is an attribute of God himself and his revelation. These considerations should make us realize the care which is needed, if the liturgical action is to reflect its innate splendour.


[Pope Benedict XVI, SACRAMENTUM CARITATIS 35, "On the Eucharist as the Source and Summit of the Church's Life and Mission", February 22, 2007]