Not Just A Pretty Face

Seek always the face of the Lord. // Psalm 105:4b

“You’re really pretty—stunning, actually.” 

The statement surprised me as much as the person making it. But as I exited the checkout line, it occurred to me that something similar had happened before, and I smiled to myself. Lord, it’s Your beauty they see and long for, my heart whispered.  

Earlier that Saturday morning, I had prayed a Holy Hour in my parish’s adoration chapel. It was one of those rare days that Jesus and I were alone for the majority of our time together, and I experienced the joy and intimacy of that encounter in a particularly striking way.     

In the preceding weeks, I had started to notice that whenever I was the only adorer in Christ’s Sacramental presence and received the gift of His loving embrace in prayer, people made it a point to comment on my beauty afterwards.     

“It’s Jesus telling you how beautiful you are after encountering Him,” a friend observed when I shared my experience. “Him pursuing you. Plus,” she continued, “He lives so presently in you, it’s also just Him.”   

In the book A Flame of God Himself, Joshua Elzner writes this: “By the beauty that the Bridegroom has bestowed upon [the bride] she attracts others to him who is all beautiful, and whose beauty is so radiantly manifested in and through her” (source). He means that in Christ’s beauty, we shine, by His pure gift, with our own unique and unrepeatable beauty, pointing others to its source. 

It's amazing, isn’t it? When we are in constant intimate contact with Beauty Himself, we naturally become more beautiful, interiorly and exteriorly. The pure light of His gaze penetrates every fiber of our being and causes us to glow with an attractive radiance that captivates those around us. We become lovely by receiving His look of love. We become beautiful by immersing our souls in His beauty. We become transformed by a daily face-to-face encounter with the One Who is the “fairest of the sons of men” (Psalm 45:2). 

This day, dear sister, seek the face of the Lord, and shine with the beauty of holiness.