When we gaze at something beautiful, there is a yearning that hurts inside of us. It hurts because we long to possess the beauty we see, to make it our own, yet we know we cannot. Eventually our gaze must move on and we are left hollow, without the beautiful object. We are left hollow, yearning for more.
How much is enough time to gaze at something beautiful? When is it appropriate to move on when you cannot get enough? Beauty hurts because it reveals a void in us that needs to be filled. We lack and want to be filled.
Beauty leaves a broken heart. But it also begins a search to have that brokenness healed. Beauty is a dangerous double-edged sword. Beauty generates a search for the transcendent – God alone can heal a heart wounded by beauty. The void beauty leaves can only be filled with God – the prized possession all desire to attain. Beauty leads us to God.
There have been several places I have visited in my life that have pierced me with their beauty. They cast a spell in my mind and heart because when I was there I could not get enough of them, and once I left, they kept a piece of my heart. Some include:
The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Jerusalem
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Guernica by Pablo Picasso in Madrid, Spain
and its liturgies
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All these pictures are mine, all rights reserved
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