{"id":7004,"date":"2014-07-22T10:03:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-22T10:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/openness-to-beauty-leads-soul-to-god-says-catholic-thinker-15472\/"},"modified":"2014-07-22T10:03:00","modified_gmt":"2014-07-22T10:03:00","slug":"openness-to-beauty-leads-soul-to-god-says-catholic-thinker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2014\/07\/openness-to-beauty-leads-soul-to-god-says-catholic-thinker\/","title":{"rendered":"Openness to beauty leads soul to God, says Catholic thinker"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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Philadelphia, Pa., Jul 22, 2014 \/ 04:03 am (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- The senses are the \u201croad to God\u201d, who speaks to us through beauty, said Bill Donaghy, who holds a master's in systematic theology, at the recent Theology of the Body Congress held in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

\tGod \u201cis trying to break into our minds and hearts through beauty,\u201d said Donaghy who, using the image of a leaf open to sunlight, said, \u201cwe need to be as receptive to God\u2019s beauty as this leaf.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tDonaghy was addressing an audience on the role of beauty in the new evangelization at a conference about the more than 100 catecheses delivered by St. John Paul II on \u201cTheology of the Body\u201d early in his pontificate.<\/p>\n

\tPart of John Paul II's thought is his sacramental vision of creation, through which we can see God, Donaghy explained. The senses \u201care a road to God,\u201d he said, imploring the audience, \u201cdon\u2019t shrink from the gift of the senses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tQuoting Fr. Robert Barron, Donaghy called beauty the \u201carrowhead of the new evangelization\u201d because, although it is not an end in itself, it catches the heart and points it towards the true and the good, adding that it is \u201cthe point with which the evangelist pierces the minds and hearts of those he evangelizes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tWhen asked what Catholics should do to bring beauty into everyday life, Donaghy called for \u201c'lectio divina' in the visual realm.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt means that you get good books. That your coffee table books are rich sacred art. That you give yourself opportunities to wander in the woods, that you read the book of creation more deliberately and you spend time before the 2,000 years of history of sacred art.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI think that our homes, our schools, our offices, should be places of beauty, too. There should be beautiful things all around us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tAll good works of art can lead us to God, Donaghy explained. \u201cCreate a treasure chest of sacred art, of photographs, of poems, of movie clips and songs,\u201d he told the audience. \u201cGod is speaking to us through all of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tHowever, he warned that beauty can be abused. We must \u201creverence\u201d it and not try to grasp it and bottle it for our own selfish desires.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cDon\u2019t try to bottle beauty. Don\u2019t try to capture it. If you do, it stagnates,\u201d he warned. He contrasted Mary and Eve, noting how Mary was open and receptive to God\u2019s grace, but Eve tried to grasp God\u2019s nature for her own selfish desires.<\/p>\n

\tAs Mary was, so must we be, he urged.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cBeauty can be a terrible thing. God and the devil are fighting, and the battlefield is the human heart,\u201d he admitted.<\/p>\n

\tBut if we are open and receptive to God, we can see beauty as we were meant to see it, he added.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWe listen, we\u2019re attuned to the transcendent, to God, and beauty leads us to God. Keep your head and your heart open to God, and beauty will lead you to God.\u201d
\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Philadelphia, Pa., Jul 22, 2014 \/ 04:03 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- The senses are the “road to God”, who speaks to us through beauty, said Bill Donaghy, who holds a master's in systematic theology, at the recent Theology of the Body Congress …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\nOpenness to beauty leads soul to God, says Catholic thinker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Philadelphia, Pa., Jul 22, 2014 \/ 04:03 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- The senses are the “road to God”, who speaks to us through beauty, said Bill Donaghy, who holds a master's in systematic theology, at the recent Theology of the Body Congress ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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