How wonderful to name God as beauty

by Sister Carolyn Law


Last month for the celebration of the 25th and 75th jubilees of our Sisters, the jubilarians requested that we use a new arrangement for the singing of the Mass parts. They had chosen a Mass called “Jesus: the Compassion of God”, written by David Haas. The opening call to worship is:

Lord it is good to be here,
Your beauty to behold
We long to proclaim your vision
And call this place our home.

How wonderful to name God as beauty. St. Bonaventure, an early Franciscan theologian, wrote “In all things beautiful, we see Beauty itself.” Of course, he meant that in seeing Beauty we see God. Seeing the 4 jubilarians process in with such dignity was indeed beautiful and we made beautiful music to celebrate their milestone.

Meanwhile here in Chicago, July 4th has come and gone. July 4th was a cool and rainy day. Sunday July 5th was a perfect day, partly cloudy, a soft breeze and mild temperature. I took a bike ride down along the lake. There was much beauty there as well. There were families of all sizes and ethnicities. Dads and Moms were grilling with great aromas wafting in the air. The beach was full of volleyball teams. Other bicyclists were out. At one end of the beach is a dog park where dogs can run in beautiful blue water and chase each other playfully and the dog masters casually chat.

At the other end of the beach is the dunes restoration area and bird sanctuary. The gulls with a couple of Caspian terns sun at the shoreline and song sparrows sing with all their little hearts. Fishermen and a few women cast their lines out and never seem to catch much. But then we know that at Lake Michigan it is not about the fish but about being near the water under the sky with the skyline of downtown Chicago just a glance away.

There is indeed much beauty. One thing in which I find hard to find some beauty is the Good Humor Ice Cream truck. Oh, the truck is okay and so is the ice cream. But the truck plays over and over and over this obnoxious tune. One truck plays a mechanical sounding “Turkey in the Straw”. I wonder how can the driver stand it for a whole day. I have a hard time with it for just 10 minutes.

The Good Humor Truck does move on and I turn my attention to the firecrackers and bottle rockets being fired off. This smoke hangs in the air with the smoke from the charcoal grills and I wonder if the fireworks are carbon balanced.

Sarah Palin’s announcement about resigning as governor of Alaska upstaged the news about Michael Jackson’s death. Her upstage only lasted a day and then the news went back to Michael, especially since Michael was from Gary Indiana, Chicago’s neighbor to the south. Sarah and Michael are children of God as well and for this we say: Thank God for all your beautiful creation.

So on July 5th, this is all the news from Lake Michigan were all the women are strong, all the men are good looking and all the children are beauties to behold.