Blog 2
Divine revelation is not only the word of God through scripture, but it is to see the existence of God through actions. A way of experiencing divine revelation is through beauty. Balthasar states: “Revelation itself is the foundation of a dialect, of ever-increasing range and density, between event and vision, in which the element of the tremendous, inherent in the event itself, nevertheless overwhelms the person contemplating it and then to such a degree that he is left with no alternative except a return to simple discipleship, and this, in turn, brings a new sense of being overwhelmed, but at a deeper level” (Balthasar, 115). Balthasar’s statement depicts the strong relationship between contemplation and divine revelation. In fact, contemplation is what makes humans experience divine revelation through beautiful artwork and events. Divine revelation can be encountered both through different beautiful acts and artwork. An example of an encounter with divine revelation was also described by Cecilia Gonzalez. Gonzales writes about her experience with divine revelation when she went to see a play (La Pastorela) at a church. Cecilia explains how she was able to experience divine revelation through the aesthetics of the play. She was able to experience this by immersing herself in the play and entering into a state of wonder. Cecilia states: “I am convinced that this is how beauty works: while no human experience can disclose what the mystery of God is, experiences that brim with beauty can suddenly make us aware of the enticing mystery enveloping us” (Gonzalez, 26).
Christ is the greatest mediator of revelation. From him and his self-giving love, the notion of beauty has been changed. Beauty should hint at creation and depict the love of God of the Word made flesh. Furthermore, to see the beauty and to experience revelation, everything has to be left behind and, as Balthasar said, we need to go back to “simple discipleship” (Balthasar, 114).
The way in which we are able to truly see beauty, contemplate it, and experience revelation as described is through the senses. It is important to use all of our senses to enter into the state of simple discipleship and become closer to God. Experiencing an encounter through the senses is an act of spirituality that leads us to enter into a deeper relationship rather than rising above. The most important element to attune the senses to see the beauty and get closer to God is faith.
Because contemplating the beauty and experiencing revelation is about becoming closer to God, it is important to understand what the true meaning of aesthetics is and how it is connected to our community. Gonzueta describes aesthetics in popular Catholicism as “the liturgical celebration of life as an end in itself” (Gonzueta, 105). Furthermore, the only true life is the life of enjoyment; but it is crucial to understand that to achieve a true life of enjoyment there needs to be communion. In order to find this communion, there needs to be union and genuine love and empathy for our neighbors. Once there is a union with our neighbors, a beautiful community can be achieved. This is important because by finding this beautiful community people can continue to contemplate similar symbols and continue to feel unified. For example; people from all over the world, no matter their language can contemplate and enter into unity by the actions of eating the bread and drinking the wine of Christ.
