Having been raised in the Protestant tradition, it it took me a while to understand the Catholic focus on Beauty. In raising Catholic children and watching them navigate education, I am grateful for my boys' charter school that promotes Socratic discussion on Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. In their first year they are presented with the question “What is Beauty?” What a great question to pose students living in a world that focuses so much on personal physical appearances!

Think of that question. What is beauty? Beauty has many definitions but as Catholics we know it is of God and from God, a manifestation of His nature. Or as my sixth grader told his teacher, “Beauty is what God makes.”

And Scripture instructs us in this! The Responsorial Psalm today states that the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. (Psalm 19)

When we see the beauty of creation—the clouds, the sunsets, the trees, the flowers, the children—how much more amazing is our Lord who created it all. Beauty gives us a glimpse of the awesome power and Glory of our Lord. Beauty is important to us. We are drawn to it and have a desire to cultivate it. It can be a distraction, however, if we only see the beauty and don’t recognize the Creator behind it.

Let us celebrate the beauty that God has put in our lives today.

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Look around you today. Where do you see His glory exposed? Where do you see beauty? Stop and notice His works around you. Allow yourself to grow closer to the Creator through the beauty He creates for us.

MaryRuth Hackett is a full-time wife and mother doing her best to teach her four children to love God and country. You can find out more about her here.