How interesting, I subconsciously introduced my Chinese wife to the church with this method. First, I introduced her to beautiful churches, shrines, and music. The beautiful made everything else clear to her.
Honestly I’m an artist ( I write novels and poetry) at heart and it sometimes makes me angry how little beauty is talked about in a theological or philosophical context. Because it is so important the world would be so grey without it. God is the most beautiful thing ever and the arts and nature are meant to sort of reflect his beauty. Beauty is so important!
I believe its because of how little there is to talk about. Truth and Justice, require explanation and create an openess to argument. Beauty requires no explanation and is open to no argument. One either experiences it or not. I believe beauty is the main goal of man's life and the greatest expression of the love of God. Though justice and truth are great expressions of love, I believe their main goal is to allow beauty to be fully expressed. In summation beauty is to truth and justice as love is to faith and hope. Art in the west has greatly declined in the modern era because of the loss of the understanding of its devotional purpose. The goal of art is currently seen as an perfect expression for the artist's self instead of the ever imperfect and insufficient offering at the altar as it should be. With that in mind I will pray that God grants you the gift of expressing His love for men through Beauty and that many will see your expression through the ages and be drawn into Him.
One thing l don't understand is why are these various professions all artists now? What happened to musicians and writers and poets all of a sudden? and what shall we now call the original "artist" artists? these conundrums keep me awake at night 😉 as does the sheer ugliness of modern visual communication in MSM, the grotesque Picasso eyed Pepper pig, the Cyclops Minions, our poor children subjected to daily freak shows, l spose beauty is just too hard, takes too long and too much effort to master, l'm with you, mourning the dearth of beauty.
I was raised in an evangelical presbyterian church in Colorado Springs. When I reached adulthood (18) I left because the actions of some, including deacons an elders, did not match the teachings. I tied to be an atheist but, like David Bowie, it did not stick. I tried Buddhism, lots of great mind tools but it wasn’t for me. So grateful for your teachings. I am converting to Catholicism! Maybe it’s because I am a song writer and musician, the beauty of the Mass and ritual attracted me.
Thank you Bishop!!! I think it's kinda interesting because my dad used to say this. He would say, the first thing a man notices about a woman is her beauty and from that he learns the truth of her. Men pursue beauty first. He used to explain the call to the priesthood by saying priests were men to whom God had shown His Beauty in such a way that the beauty of women was pale in comparison. Just as a man will pursue the most beautiful woman to the exclusion of others, so he will pursue the Most Beautiful. I always thought that was a great way to look at it and this talk drew it all up in a new way!
Incredible, inspiring, challenging speech. It surely moves one to admire, appreciate Bishop Barron and the Almighty who blessed him with such oratory gift.
Thank you God and thank you Bishop Barron for this message you spoke on, I’m almost 70 and in RCIA , and have so many questions on the catechism. This answers me at such a time that is only God sent.
So many talks on RU-vid are about argumentation. This is a talk about beauty and its role in conversion. There's something in beauty that cannot be reduced to reason and is a pathway to the divine.
He is not instructing us on how to be converted by beauty. He is just giving wonderful examples of how it can happen, and explains that beauty is not superfluous to faith.
So funny, I just remembered my dad when watching a baseball or football game , he’d yell out , “ that was beautiful “, “ what a pretty move”. He’d ask , “ wasn’t that beautiful Annie”? I miss dad .
Bishop, please forgive, but that is what your presentation does for me, God has given you such holy wisdom, that imparts that harmony, intellect, simplicity, beauty woven together to show the signs and sights of God...its as if you were touching heaven and earth...the beautiful from realism to spiritualism. Thank you. .God does not need one, yet you are his speech writer - to draw us to His BEAUTY.
This talk was very enjoyable and very true. I do think we look at those transcendentals backwards. When I first decided to look into Christianity I focused very much on the "truth" and logic side of things. It helped me to realize that rationality didn't have to be thrown out the window, and it helped me immensley in my decision to finally put my foot in the door of a church. Over time, however, I found myself falling more in love with the splendour of the Catholic Church. As a catechumen, my faith was deepened not so much by the arguments and apologetics, but moreso by those magnificent sounds, images, and rythymns that reflected the beauty of the Lord. It's as if even simple pictures of churches took the awe-inspiring glare of Christ in the transfiguration and radiated it out for my eyes to see. It's not something that you can necessarily describe with particular sets of words, but rather a stirring of heart and a movement towards the inherent magnificence of God. With my reception into the Church just around the corner, I hope to immerse myself more deeply in this beauty, and live by the commands and understand the depths of the one from which it came. Thank you for all your brilliant work, Your Excellency. God bless.
Ultimate respect to you Bishop Barron. I attended St Gerard's in Detroit. I lived around 7 mile and Evergreen . . . I played with the softball little league Browns and the Blues in 74 and 75, love, love, love the Tigers . . . I am a cradle Catholic whose grandfather was a Lebanese child immigrant (child laborer) who labored for Henry Ford as a child and worked for him as an adult. my father worked for the Rouge plant and then moved his family out of there to the west. I know God is with you and you are speaking the truth about our reality in time. Thank you for your insight. I have not heard such amazing sermons since President Washington's first address to Congress on the 30th of April I 789. I wish I could have met you when you lived in Southern California. Peace be with you.
Bishop, I feel compelled to say this that you are so cute and adorable in this talk. I wish there was a heart button here that I could click again and again. And I mean this with respect and admiration. You truly embodied the beautiful here and I feel more inspired to pursue the route of the beautiful as well. Thank you so much Bishop for all the work that you do. May God bless you more!
Bishop Baron, saya mohon lindungilah saya dan saya akan bersaksi, saya bersaksi berbicara dari awal sampai akhir, dan saya akan bersaksi tentang kemuliaan yang terjadi
Thank the Lord for Bishop Barron and the Catholic Church! Obviously there is the Beauty of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit! IF THERE WAS NO BEAUTY THERE WOULD BE NO UGLY. THE UGLY TRIES TO DESTOY THE BEAUTY EVERY DAY SO THERE MUST BE BEAUTY! BEAUTY WILL WIN IN THE END.
Thank you Bishop. Your words are for the Catholics, but someone else outside of Catholic that has had an experience that moves their heart, their Soul will understand. The Lord is with you and it will be felt. May God bless you forever.
Thank you so much for this address, which I have just heard in 2022, & for sharing some of the elements of the beautiful, incl sports, that have had special import in your own life. Today I received your book, CATHOLICISM: A JOURNEY TO THE HEART OF THE FAITH, which I had ordered. I haven't had time to read it, but in perusing it, I am drawn to the wonderful graphics, b&w as well as color pages therein, the BEAUTY first as you describe in your talk. When I do a review for Amazon, this will be included, to encourage those like myself, who are word people, but also, very visually & musically oriented & transformed.
As an artist, looking at a landscape, or a person, I want to depict that image in such a way , that if I can do it even with limits to my skill, so that the center or soul of the subject of my attempt can be shared to other viewers. Bishop Barron's talk made me appreciate , wildly, my gift and my Catholic faith.
Mr. BHISOP l started to read oce Claudels "seidene schue" and long time ago l visited the thenk God newly recontracted chatedra and the small trinity chapell and l felt the love of somebody from above the admiration the artist giving the honor with their splending donnation also for Jezus and for many of us.
Thank you for your comments about Art and the importance of Beauty in our life, and in the life of the Church. Would that we would all take it more to heart!
These talks of Bishop Barron's on the intrinsic and objective beauty of certain musical compositions makes me wonder if he's ever heard anything from Morten Lauridsen, particularly "O Magnum Mysterium".
What an amazing and stirring talk on the beauty in our lives lived through Jesus Christ. It is especially meaningful during this time of this Covid-19 pandemic and the death of George Floyd. Come Holy Spirit! ❤️🙏❤️
Hey Bishop Barron, does this apply to the Catholic tradition in regards to music. Seems to me an injustice that there is a 2000 year old tradition of the most beautiful songs ever written and we only use songs written in the 60's
Chant and polyphony are great and all, but if you've ever been to a choir practice at an average parish, it's hard to get people to be disciplined enough to go through the training for a schola and to learn the chants.
jnuval I'm completely new to singing in a choir (and to chant and Polyphony, as I've only been attending my current parish for a year), but I caught on quickly. I don't sing the Gregorian propers of the mass yet, but I'm able to do some of the other chants and motets we do, like the various Marian chants. I do agree however, that people are lazy and aren't willing to put in the work. Simple Gregorian ordinary settings can get people started in my opinion. Then they can move on from there
Bishop aku baru saja selesai berdoa, dan tepat jam 12 malam aku harus berdoa, dan pada saat aku mengucapkan doa berbicara dengan Tuhan, dan Tuhan mengatakan kepada saya masih ada gempa akan terjadi dimana-mana, dan dalam beberapa hari kedepan akan ada badai angin kencang, angin badai yang kencang dan menghancurkan.
First song that "rocked your world"? The Carpenters - Sing a Song, I was only five but listened to it over and over. I still find it a song simple and beautiful in its sound and meaning. I'm curious about what songs other people first found beautiful in the way Bishop Barron describes...
Metallica's "One." This may not have been properly speaking the first that shook my world, BUT it certainly has had the most impact thus far in my life. I'm sure there are many who can't imagine finding Beauty in thrash metal, or any heavy metal for that matter. The way the guitars come in at the beginning with this slow sad melody gives me shivers every time. The song develops into a powerful ballad, at times pushing into harder more aggressive music only to be pulled back at the last second to the ballad. It finally tears into a crescendo of thrashing raw aggression and emotion, with some of the most beautiful guitar work you'll ever hear. I truly believe this song fits well within the definition the Bishop Barron describes.
Jak, I haven't seen the film ( or read the book); I really should, though. The scenes they pulled from the movie for the music video are heart wrenching.
Pope Francis " as Prince Myshkin said in Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot - then we must be vigilant so that the world also saves beauty. To achieve this, I invite you to embrace a “global beauty compact” with all the young people of the world, for there is no education without beauty. “We cannot educate without leading a person to beauty, without leading the heart to beauty. Forcing my talk a little, I would say that an education is not successful if you do not know how to create poets. The path of beauty is a challenge that must be addressed"
yankeesuperstar Why? The Old Testament was written mostly in Hebrew. Jesus spoke Hebrew and Greek. The New Testament was written mostly in Greek. Wouldn't Greek make more sense as the Orthodox church does it?
What year were you ordained a priest? Do you know the four marks of the Catholic Church? Do you know the churches laws on jurisdiction and how it runs?
As an artist and priest, i am troubled by a major blind spot of a bishop who claims to be a champion of beauty in the church and world. The examples he holds up in painting, sculpture, and architecture always seem to be Renaissance or earlier. Where is the modern art and architecture in Barron's understanding of beauty? What about Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona, or the deeply spiritual and beautiful paintings of the Jewish artist Marc Chagall, to give just a couple examples? Is beauty only to be found in the work of artists who've been dead for 200 years or more? How about the art of the non-Western world or the global South?
l find the work of Mark Chagall profoundly ugly, sentimental and artistically incompetent, unforgivably faux naif, so it seems it's very subjective these days isn't it. lt had everything to do with the fact that in modern art the artist is the art, they are celebs, the art is seen thru the aura of the artist's status, not the other way round. Inversion. So Tracy Emin Becomes a world class artist by being "notorious"and then spends 7 years spending a tiny fraction of her millions having real artists actually teach her how to draw! ,(She drew at the level of a 5 yo before that) She's still.incredibly lacklustre, and unobservant, but can at least slavishly copy now. Can you imagine this happening in classical music or ballet? No they have better reality testing, and standards. Modern Life is one long farce, treated with utmost solemnity and reverence. 200 years ago the art had to speak for itself, and it did, skill levels off the charts. As an artist myself l would say that where art is concerned, untold amounts of skill has been been lost, globally. Neolithic pottery decoration, would be almost impossible to reproduce today, endless repetition of daily work leads to the falling away of all that is fussy and unnecessary leaving breathtaking elegance, and this on everyday objects, not self conscious artfulness. Beauty is graceful. In an attention competitive world understated beauty is too subtle to compete for mainstream attention. 20.years ago Charles Saatchi was flaunting the debased reality he midwifed, when he named his sellout exhibition. Sensation.
@@teresaskarlicki2641 " The importance of considering art from all over the world sounds very dutiful, very PC and very rule bound. Art stands on its merit, a beautiful piece should make your hair stand on end,leave you with a sense of the uncanny it should haunt you with its unworldly flawlessness. Art stands on its merit. Gaudi would be popular with African termites for a human his mounds are not 1/2 bad, seems like he paid attention and reinvented the wheel somewhat.
Father, In my deepest mind l associate Leonard Cohens, Lady in the window with the hymn Lo how a rose Eer Blooming Some deep Jewish and catholic One pointedness Beyond that L have no explanation Please reply. LOVE
This is a great talk on beauty! But I can’t help but cringe a bit looking at the backdrop of this talk. I grew up with this church decor... dried branches, sand and banners and wonder if there’s a correlation between people in my generation (Gen X) the stripping of the beautiful art in our churches and the Mass exodus (pun intended) and this shift. I know it’s not everything but there’s is something that beauty subtly does to the soul that disarms it to listen to the good and the true.
I'm a Católic; I LOVE BISHOP'S BARRON 'videos: they hace taught me to understand My Religión; but: I HATE BASEBALL!Where's the BEAUTY i'm it, dear & Revered Excellency?
Yes! I was thinking the same thing. I am going to check if Dr. William Lane Craig has some contact information where I can send him this link. It is interesting that he is puzzled by the emphasis of Catholicism, not only on the Good and the True, but also on the Beautiful, especially when he is such a good example of the latter transcendental property of being. At home, we call Dr. Lane Craig: "the elegant teacher" (it is not only what he says, but his own face, hair, the way he talks, smiles, walks, listens, behaves, etc.). There is a mysterious integrity, consonance, and radiance about him ---I can clearly perceive the reflection of God precisely in his sophisticated mind and his exquisitely elegant beauty.
I was truly fascinated, Bishop Barron. Beauty has always captured me. Today, I am 74. This talk was a BEAUTIFUL Birthday gift! I had to replay certain spots to take notes on my phone. I will revisit/research Plato, Dante, Beatrice, You have inspired me to read /reread Evelyn Waugh; You have been gifted by God ... THANK YOU, GOD, FOR OPENING MY EYES AND EARS TO YOUR MESSENGER. Blessings, Phyllis Catanzaro Garet
Dr Peter Kreeft's conversion story. You might find interesting. Beauty was a factor in his own conversion. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VO2NGGmWBQo.html
I agree with your description of Dr. Craig. I've watch him on RU-vid and he certainly has charisma. I was very surprised when he spoke of being puzzled by beauty. I would suggest that might be the answer to Bishop Barron's not so subtle question " why he wasn't Catholic?". Many conversion stories I've read speak of Beauty being a significant factor in their decision. See above Dr. Peter Kreeft's Conversion link. Interesting!
You might find this article interesting? churchpop.com/2018/05/25/the-amazing-humanities-dept-that-got-shut-down-after-too-many-students-converted-to-catholicism/
WOW! I may know the feeling of staring at something so beautiful and reflect God's power, love, art, and amazing! each day! In a boarding house in college, I would stare at my breakfast of a sunny-side-up egg. How does this egg form the body of a chick? And I reflect how egg and sperm unite and by the MIRACLE OF GOD, there is this forming and developing HUMAN LIFE! … WHAT A BEAUTY! WHAT A BEAUTIFUL GOD WE HAVE IN LIFE. AND IT IS A 9-MONTH PROCESS FOR A HUMAN LIFE! WHO COULD EVER CRASH IT?!
Very nice-I compare the "brutalist" architecture we have, to the beauty of Art Deco or NeoClassical buildings. Brutalist is NOT beautiful-I wonder why it was so popular.
Beauty certainly matters in Catholic Church, right ? I do wish English translation of liturgy and Scripture were more beautiful than what’s going on now in U.S. I do wish music, the mass and hymns were more beautiful. I do wish the statues of Saints were not tacky at all. I’m not talking about Chartres or Vatican, but about local parish churches. I mean, in New York. I know New York is not Rome, but this is quite frustrating.
Seems to me that knowing your audience for sure is important to help avoid what happened in Acts 16: 19 - 21 which could happen to anyone no matter how gracious a way the person presented the good news in any community that is filled with people who have the love of money right from the ground up to the brass. Like for example graciousness when being able to wash the feet of a prisoner. I admire the courage of pope Francis since having done so could have enraged a lot of racist people with the love of money most.
Danke. As an artist and a lost fish at sea, you are slowly pulling me in after a 35 year hiatus. Evangelization of Native people was neither beautiful nor productive though!
I despise baseball. There is nothing beautiful about it. My father forced me to play tee ball, but I much preferred to use the time to observe the beauty of the ants moving on the ground unbound by nay arbitrary rules.
