Truth is Beautiful

“Everything about her is beautiful,” says Deacon Butterfield about the Catholic Church. 

Truth is beautiful. I was convinced as much or more by the Mass in B minor by Bach as any philosophical or theological argument. 

Something that beautiful - the music and the Mass - has to be of God.

I had always been attracted to the beauty of Catholic churches and cathedrals. Numerous times I had sat in them or walked around in them, soaking in the glory without knowing what it was that made them special. I always felt God’s presence and glory. Why?  


I especially remember sitting in the Metropolitan Cathedral in downtown Mexico City, on the Zócalo - Plaza de la Constitución. I had ducked in there to avoid a large demonstration that was happening nearby. In general, when I hear the noise of a protest, I go the other way. The friends I was with thought it would be cool to check out the protest. So they headed down the side street where the marchers were. 

Since I had lived through the 80s in the country of Chile while Pinochet was still in power, “manifestaciones” or demonstrations and protests had an entirely different meaning for me. They were something to stay away from because they almost always ended in violence and deaths. They always ended with the Carabineros throwing canisters of tear gas into the crowds. Nasty stuff. The guanacos - water canons - would also spray the crowd with water - water under high pressure that could actually hurt a person, not just get them wet. Sane people stayed away from such activities, but a few times we were caught near the wrong place at the wrong time. Never actually in the middle of trouble, but closer than we wanted to be while tires were burned and tear gas was expelled. One time a car bomb was placed in front of our neighbors’ house - defused, thankfully. 

So, back to the Zócalo about 10 years ago or more. While my friends were checking out the protest, - that turned out to be peaceful - I took refuge in the Catedral. 

Mass was being celebrated, so I heard the Scripture readings and saw the worshipers. There was a great sense of peace that washed over me. So calm. So quiet, except for the voice of the priest and those who read the Scriptures. 

After Mass, there was an organ recital. A piece written by a Mexican composer of the 18th Century was the featured work. Glorious!  That’s the best word to describe it. 

Another time we were in Cadiz, Spain. My family wanted to climb to the top of the Cathedral’s tower. It was a spiral staircase if I remember right. My vertigo overcame any desire I might have had to climb up there for a better view. 

So, I spent my time inside the cathedral looking at all the marvelous works of art. There were hand written manuscripts, hundreds of years old from the time before the printing press was invented. There were statues and paintings and hand made furniture. The cathedral is made of white marbel, mostly. 

I even wandered down into the crypt and thought about the people who were buried in those walls.  Even though it was a burial place for people who had been important during their lifetime, there was a great peace down there. Silence. Calm. Candles. Artwork. The cross. Peace. Hope.

Those are two experiences I had while I was still Protestant. There are many more - like at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Stations of the Cross in Old Jerusalem. That also involved involved a group of protesters. That’s another story. 

In fact, whenever we would visit a city, I would search out a Catholic Church to enter and just gaze. I didn’t know that I was being drawn in by her beauty. Now I know what the source of that beauty is. It is the Real Presence of Christ. It is the presence of the Communion of Saints and the Holy Angels. It is Heaven and Earth coming together as one. I have come to this.: 

Hebrews 12:18-29Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

18 For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest,
19 and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers entreat that no further messages be spoken to them.
20 For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.”
21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”

22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,
23 and to the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to a judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel.

Won’t you come and see for yourself?