One of the most important revelations about our human existence is that we are each part of a rare and marvelous work of art.
The Eternal Artist, the One who brought the universe forth as a magnificent expression of grace, created everything for us to be able to experience beauty.
And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. (Genesis 1:31)
Not only were we are created for beauty; but we were created as an element of that beauty, a measure of God’s larger work of art. Indeed, our individual creation was modeled on the most beautiful being in the universe.
Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. (Genesis 1:26)
This is probably not something we think about when we reflect on our existence in the world. So often, the circumstances of life and our advancing years lead us to forget we are created as specific, unique and profoundly beautiful elements of artistic expression. Each of us were contemplated, designed and brought into being with the careful detail of a master craftsman.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)
Our lives are meant to be a continued expression of the beauty that resides within us, and we are intended to manifest our individual artistic contribution to God’s grand design.
Perhaps some of us do not think of ourselves as artistic. But we are not speaking here of art in the traditional sense. Rather, we are referring to the act of making, of creating something meaningful, what we all desire to do with our own lives.
Paul writes to the Ephesians that we are created for good works, and that God prepared them for us beforehand. It is our calling then to walk in them.
Just what are these good works? Well, the greatest work of the human person, our highest form of artistic expression, is to give our lives over to the master craftsman and allow Him to complete the work He began in us with our creation.
This process is described in a wonderful book by Pope St. John Paul II, when he was Bishop Karol Wojtyla. The book is in entitled, “God is Beauty.” The title is taken from a retreat Bishop Wojtyla gave to artist in 1962, and it describes not only the important work of artists but of all human beings ‘created in the image of God.’
The central theme of the retreat, and the book, is best described in a quote from the book written by the Polish poet Zymunt Krasiński. Reflecting on man’s relationship with God and the art of making, he writes: “A stream of Beauty flows through you, but you yourself are not Beauty.”
Beauty here refers to God, and though the artist can and should create beautiful works, as we all should with our lives, God is the supreme Creator. Our participation in this work is to dispose ourselves to the hand of God, and to allow Him to draw out from us the most beautiful expression of ourselves. This is only possible is the human person gives themself over to the work of the Eternal Artist.
A Byzantine Catholic priest, Father Thomas Loya, explains this relationship in his reflection on the Third Lesson in the book. He writes: “What distinguishes the human person from all other creatures on earth is that the human person alone is made for liturgy, for worship. We alone can ‘offer ourselves.’ “We are called to make our lives a gift.”
I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (Romans 12:1)
To be sure, the process of being fashioned into a magnificent work of art is not easy. There are times the artist will need to chip away at the rock to reveal that great sculpture hidden within. We may need to hear the gifted prose that instruct us, or the poetry that moves us. And, thankfully, there will be times when our lives enjoy the gentle strokes of the painters brush, which draw out the brilliant hue and color that form the glorious expressions of our lives. And finally, we will hear the symphony of sound that will blend with all the other souls, equally beautiful expressions of the Master’s Brilliant final work.
And I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
Let’s pray this week that we might allow the hand of the Master Craftsman to form and shape our lives into the beautiful artistic expression He designed us for on the day of our birth.
God Bless
Copyright © 2024, Deacon Mark Danis
Image credit: “Creation of Adam” (detail), Michelangelo, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons