True Beauty

Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul.

St. Augustine

During an apparition where Our Lady had appeared to the visionaries in Medjugorje, one of them exclaimed how was it that she was so beautiful. She smiled and tranquilly answered them by simply saying, it is love.

Love is what makes a soul beautiful since God is Love. Every human being is made in the image and likeness of God and each and every soul bears a reflection of his Creator. When a soul has turned it's gaze toward God, as a flower turns it's gaze toward the sun, so it blossoms, grows and becomes beautiful. Through gazing at the sun does the flower reveal it's vibrant colors and the bees can gather the necessary nectar to be nourished. Through gazing at the sun does the flower enjoy the warm rays that gently flood all of it's faculties. In a word, the sun gives the flower life. Yet, if the flower chooses to turn it's gaze from the sun and chooses to busy itself with looking at the dirt, how will it blossom? How will it grow and become beautiful? How will it be able to offer nectar for the bees? How will it survive? It is impossible. Not until the flower aims itself in the direction of the life-giving sun, will it be able to become what is was created to be, a beautiful flower. A flower that is not only itself happy and content, but can also offer that happiness to others. It is the same with souls. Not until a soul stops busying itself with mere vanities and fixes his gaze toward the true Sun, Jesus Christ, the ultimate life-giving sun, will it find it's joy, it's life, it's beauty. It is then that other souls can be nourished by this one soul's fruit of his union with God.

Let us love, since our heart is made for nothing else.

St. Therese of Lisieux

Women have been gifted with a special role in the history of mankind. It is through the woman that love brings into existence another life. It is through the woman that the family is kept together in love. It is through the woman that the human family is formed. And is all through love. A woman's true beauty is through her love for God and her love for souls. Love is a choice. It's an act of the will; love is not mere feelings. Mother Teresa had once said that for love to be real it must hurt. That love is a continuous choosing of what is best for the other no matter the cost. The continual choosing of love transforms the soul in becoming more beautiful because it is becoming more unto God Himself.

This is the true beauty of a soul, by it's capacity to love and to be loved. For a soul to truly love, it must first know and understand that he is completely and utterly loved by his Creator and God, Jesus Christ. It is precisely in knowing who we are in Christ that our hearts can sing and our joy know no limit. It is precisely through our union with God that true beauty can radiate from our souls.

“Look to Him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed.”

Psalm 34:5

May we seek after Love Itself. May true beauty radiate from our souls. May we bear true and authentic witnesses of God living among men.

The woman is the heart of the home. Let us pray that we women realize the reason for our existence: to love and be loved and through this love become instruments of peace in this world.

Mother Teresa

St. Therese of Lisieux, pray for us.