True Beauty Can Change the World

Singer/songwriter Audrey Assad, who I’ve written about in the past, just launched a new independent music project through Kickstarter.com that would fund an album she wants to record of Church worship songs. Fans supported the idea in droves, so it got funded in 50 hours. Additional funds will now be used to make the project even better.

I loved what Audrey wrote about her goal with the project and her music in general:

I have long believed that true Beauty can change a world where truth and goodness are no longer important to most people. Beauty is still idolized in our society, and so it still has influence, however warped its role may have become. But the remarkable thing about true Beauty is that, when it is real and when it is pure, it carries in itself Truth and Goodness. The three are inseparable. And the best thing I can do as an artist who wants to serve the Church is to love all three, and to pursue them with prayer and humility, hoping to offer them to the Church and the world using the gifts I’ve been given. I believe God will bless that work. I am not worthy of it, but I undertake it willingly.

Truth, Beauty and Goodness were also on the mind of Pope Francis as he delivered the homily at his installation Mass this morning on the Feast of St. Joseph. Deacon Greg has the whole homily on his blog, but I wanted to post an excerpt because it applies to how we can all create Truth, Beauty and Goodness in our lives:

How does Joseph respond to his calling to be the protector of Mary, Jesus and the Church? By being constantly attentive to God, open to the signs of God’s presence and receptive to God’s plans, and not simply to his own. This is what God asked of David, as we heard in the first reading. God does not want a house built by men, but faithfulness to his word, to his plan. It is God himself who builds the house, but from living stones sealed by his Spirit. Joseph is a “protector” because he is able to hear God’s voice and be guided by his will; and for this reason he is all the more sensitive to the persons entrusted to his safekeeping. He can look at things realistically, he is in touch with his surroundings, he can make truly wise decisions. In him, dear friends, we learn how to respond to God’s call, readily and willingly, but we also see the core of the Christian vocation, which is Christ! Let us protect Christ in our lives, so that we can protect others, so that we can protect creation!

The vocation of being a “protector”, however, is not just something involving us Christians alone; it also has a prior dimension which is simply human, involving everyone. It means protecting all creation, the beauty of the created world, as the Book of Genesis tells us and as Saint Francis of Assisi showed us. It means respecting each of God’s creatures and respecting the environment in which we live. It means protecting people, showing loving concern for each and every person, especially children, the elderly, those in need, who are often the last we think about. It means caring for one another in our families: husbands and wives first protect one another, and then, as parents, they care for their children, and children themselves, in time, protect their parents. It means building sincere friendships in which we protect one another in trust, respect, and goodness. In the end, everything has been entrusted to our protection, and all of us are responsible for it. Be protectors of God’s gifts!

If you want a visual representation of what that kind of beauty looks like, check out this video of the Pope getting out of the Popemobile to bless a severely disabled man. It’s one of those pictures that’s worth a thousand words.