Seek Beauty

This morning as I sat down to begin my workday, I was awestruck at the beauty of Vancouver’s winter sunrise: as I peered from a window through some trees’ naked branches, pinks and yellows and blues filled the vast sky.

Lately I have reflected more and more about the power of beauty—and the importance of seeking it out in our daily lives.  Several years ago, the Sisters of Life published their newsletter with the theme “Beauty Everywhere,” and they wrote,

"The beauty of nature has the power to lead one to the healing truth of God’s goodness and love.  Before a sunset, snow-capped mountain, a golden meadow, whatever the scene might be, if we allow ourselves to pause from our busy lives and begin to listen, we are drawn to a mystery accessible to all, a truth that confirms our identity: the wonder and goodness of existence, of being.”

In a world where terror and violence sow discord and death in places like Nigeria and France, it can be tempting to become overwhelmed by the ugliness in our midst; but more than ever, we need beauty to draw us to the “healing truth of God’s goodness and love.”  So several times a week I make a habit of reflecting on beauty in my day, and have found that when I become intentional about making these observations, I discover beauty truly is everywhere.

One time it was my 1-year-old niece tenderly holding her stuffed monkey and smiling, while caressing it and squeezing it close to her chest, showing that even at the earliest of ages we humans are drawn to give affection.  Another time it was my sister who, even with messy hair and a tired body, radiated beauty as she got up early, after one of many short nights, to feed and serve and love her four children.  Beauty.

Or another time, just two weeks ago, it was a choral concert by Motet (www.motet.ca).  One singer in particular radiated such joy and beauty that as he sang of the heavens, to the heavens, I was drawn like a magnet to his inner light and just stared at him, smiling.  Then there was the music he and the others sang—I have discovered there’s something profoundly beautiful about sacred music, and I think it’s because it takes us beyond this world, to another place, a reminder that it is that place which is our final destination.

Beauty.  It lifts the soul and gives a moment of reprieve in this world of imperfection, enabling us to have perspective and to maintain peace amidst any storms.

So when today comes to a close, or next time you’re interacting with a loved one, pause and ask, “Where did you see beauty in your day?” 

This blog was originally published at Dynamic Women of Faith: www.dynamicwomenfaith.com

Beginning the New Year and Each New Day in Prayer

The start of a new year is like the start of a new day—while incapable of changing the past, we can certainly do in the present moment that which we wish we’d done in the past, so as to make the future better.

I started this new year fulfilling one of my goals, which is to read more.  So I started reading Peter Kreeft’s book “Prayer for Beginners” and he gives fantastic advice that, if heeded, will make our year, and days, better.  Consider his insight:

 “Eating keeps your body alive, and prayer keeps your soul alive.  Praying is more important than eating because your soul is more important than your body.  Your soul is more important than your body because your soul is you, your personality, your self.  You will get a new body after death, in the resurrection at the end of the world.  But you will not get a new soul…Praying keeps your soul alive because prayer is real contact with God, and God is the life of the soul as the soul is the life of the body.  If you do not pray, your soul will wither and die, just as, if you do not eat, your body will wither and die.

***

“Three reasons God commands us to pray correspond to our three deepest needs, the fundamental needs of the three powers of our soul: prayer gives truth to our mind, goodness to our will, and beauty to our heart.  ‘The true, the good, and the beautiful’ are the three things we need and love the most, because they are three attributes of God.

“Prayer gives truth to our mind because it puts us in the presence of Truth itself, the divine Mind who designed our minds and our lives and our whole universe.  It gives goodness to our will because it puts us ‘on line’ with God, in love with the God who is love and goodness.  That is his essence.  In prayer we become like the God we pray to and conform to; we catch the good infection of Godliness by contact.  It gives beauty to our heart because plunges us into the heart of God, which is the eternal energy of infinite joy.  That is why it gives us joy and peace and delight and happiness.”

So as we enter another year, let’s remember that if we are going to eat each day, all the more we should pray each day.  And as many say that the most important meal is breakfast, so too will praying at the beginning of our days be transformative.  So let’s take time to be still, to be silent, and to communicate with the God who loved us into being.

Year-End Highlights 2014

New friends from Dublin, Ireland where I spoke at Viva La Vida, a training conference hosted by an amazing pro-life group called Youth Defence

At the end of November, I wrapped up my speaking for the year with these three highlights: 

1. On November 17 I spoke to hundreds of grade 9 and grade 11 students Notre Dame Catholic High School in Ajax, Ontario.  At this school I partnered with Angelina Steenstra of Silent No More Awareness who shared her heartbreaking story of pregnancy from rape, followed by an abortion.  But not only a message of suffering, hers was also a message of God’s mercy and hope, and was a perfect complement to my apologetics and inspirational talk.
2. Later that day I drove to London, Ontario, where I spoke to the priests and seminarians at St. Peter’s Seminary.  The rector, Fr. Stevan Wlusek, wrote, “Your passion and enthusiasm are deeply moving.  As well, the well-researched and convincing content of your presentations have given our seminarians and guests meaningful and current information to help them in articulating a clear message proclaiming the Gospel of Life.  As future priests called to be leaders and defenders of the Church’s message of the protection of human life from conception to natural death, your articulate, practical and memorable words will greatly help in their future ministries.”
3. A few days after that I flew to Ireland for the first time where I spoke in Dublin at Viva La Vida, a training conference hosted by an amazing pro-life group called Youth Defence.  When training others, my emphasis of late has been to seek to understand the abortion supporters we speak to, to really seek out where they are coming from and what their woundedness is.  I was encouraged when it was that message which struck an attendee who wrote, “We were also told of how to consider people’s feelings, and to rely on the Holy Spirit in our battle for Life, and not to be forceful but to show by a loving example as goes in The Saint Francis Prayer (Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace), 'O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love.' We were taught in a practical way too with some amazing demonstrations of being confronted on a Street Outreach etc. A lot of food for thought I believe... I was brought to tears several times throughout the day and was touched by different aspects of the program.”

Exciting Partnerships

In November I partnered with both Lighthouse Catholic Media and EWTN.  The former released a CD of a talk of mine that can be ordered online here. That same month I flew to Birmingham, Alabama where I was interviewed on “At Home with Jim and Joy.”  You can view the episode here.  During the episode I spoke with the hosts about miscarriage, mentioning that my oldest sibling died at 6 weeks in-utero. It’s amazing how, when one person references loss, it can validate the feelings of those who are suffering or remembering in silence; indeed, a short while later, a viewer posted to me on social media that she was grateful I spoke about my miscarried sibling as it reminded her of the importance of acknowledging her three children who were lost to miscarriage.

Appearance on EWTN on Nov. 7, 2014