{"id":26451,"date":"2011-06-02T19:59:20","date_gmt":"2011-06-02T23:59:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2011\/06\/art-is-not-merely-an-option-fo\/"},"modified":"2011-06-02T19:59:20","modified_gmt":"2011-06-02T23:59:20","slug":"art-is-not-merely-an-option-fo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2011\/06\/art-is-not-merely-an-option-fo\/","title":{"rendered":"Art is not merely an option for the Christian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our Lord ascended to Heaven so that the Holy Spirit
\nmight come at Pentecost and fill the Church with His truth. The greatest art
\nexpresses that truth and is far superior to vain “self-expression.”
\nJohn Keats said “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” but T.S. Eliot
\nrightly thought that the expression was meaningless sentimentality. The
\ncraftsman ignorant of the Creator becomes a vain aesthete expressing nothing
\nmore than the ego. While truth is beautiful, beauty is not truth itself but
\nexpresses that truth. In the classical tradition, beauty consists in
\nproportion, integrity and clarity: it is harmonious, suited to its purpose, and
\nintelligible. This is sublimely seen in Christ Himself, Who incarnated this
\nbeauty as the Way (guiding to a harmony of virtue) and the Truth (revealing
\nGod) and the Life (enlightening with creative love). St. Macarius, an Egyptian
\nmonk of the fourth century said, “The soul which has been fully illumined
\nby the unspeakable beauty of the glory shining on the countenance of Christ overflows
\nwith the Holy Spirit . . . it is all eye, all light, all countenance.”<\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/div>\n
Art
\nis not merely an option for the Christian. Thus, the wisdom of Lorenzo in The
\nMerchant of Venice: “The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not
\nmov’d with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils
\n. . .” The most sublime art is the Eucharist, in which we “take part
\nin a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the holy city of
\nJerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims . . .” (Vatican II, SC 8).<\/span>\n<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Father George Rutler<\/span><\/div>\n
Pastor, Church of Our Saviour, NYC<\/span><\/div>\n
homily excerpt from a recent Mass with Artists<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our Lord ascended to Heaven so that the Holy Spirit might come at Pentecost and fill the Church with His truth. The greatest art expresses that truth and is far superior to vain “self-expression.” John Keats said “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” but T.S. Eliot rightly thought that the expression was meaningless sentimentality. The craftsman … Continue reading Art is not merely an option for the Christian<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[2173,2475,2206],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26451"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26451\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}