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Views from the Choir Loft

The Gratuity of Beauty

Fr. David Friel · November 9, 2019

INE YEARS ago, in November 2010, Pope Benedict XVI traveled to Barcelona to dedicate the extraordinary Sagrada Familia Basilica. The Holy Father’s homily for the occasion was equally extraordinary. He said at that time: “Beauty . . . reveals God because, like Him, a work of beauty is pure gratuity.”

What a line for meditation: A work of beauty is pure gratuity.

A project of the great architect Antoni Gaudi, Sagrada Familia was granted the status of a minor basilica at the time of its dedication in 2010. The history of the basilica’s founding and development is fascinating, spanning at this point more than five generations. Its physical construction, which began in 1882, is scheduled to be completed in 2026.

Today, we celebrate the dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, which is the mother church of the universal Church. Most of us are not able to be in the Lateran Basilica today, but we join in the celebration because we are in union with our Holy Father, whose cathedral it is. Many people would think it funny that Catholics celebrate the dedication of a building centuries-old and (for many people) thousands of miles away. They would also think it funny that so much time and money has been spent on Sagrada Familia.

But ours is an Incarnational faith, and so we see value in art and beauty. Beauty is certainly found in unadulterated creation, but God also takes especially great delight in what we fashion out of His creation. He enjoys the beauty of things that the Earth has provided and that human hands have shaped.

The beauty of our churches and chapels is, indeed, gratuitous. But, of course, God’s love for us is gratuitous; His mercy is gratuitous; the fact that we even exist is gratuitous. That beauty is also gratuitous does not mean we ought not to bother with it. Instead, we should consider how the very gratuity of beauty, paradoxically, makes it so necessary.

OTHER TERESA of Calcutta famously encouraged us to “do something beautiful for God.” Today, let’s do something gratuitous for God. We, who are “temples of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 6:19), become more beautiful and more pleasing to God precisely by our gratuitous acts of charity. Cultivating beauty in our lives may not mean the building of a basilica like Gaudi’s, but it could well begin with imitating God, Himself, “who gives generously and ungrudgingly to all” (James 1:5).

Whenever we come to church, we must prepare our hearts to be as beautiful as we expect this church to be. Do you wish to find this basilica immaculately clean? Then do not soil your soul with the filth of sins. Do you wish this basilica to be full of light? God, too, wishes that your soul be not in darkness, but that the light of good works shine in us, so that He who dwells in the heavens will be glorified. Just as you enter this church building, so God wishes to enter into your soul, for He promised: “I shall live in them, and I shall walk the corridors of their hearts.”

— St. Caesarius of Arles (470-542)

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Beauty, Pope Benedict XVI, Sacred Architecture Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and serves as Director of Liturgy at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    Luis Martínez Must Go!
    Sevilla Cathedral (entry dated 13 December 1564): The chapter orders Luis Martínez, a cathedral chaplain, to stay away from the choirbook-stand when the rest of the singers gather around it to sing polyphony—the reason being that “he throws the others out of tune.” [Excerpt from “The Life of Father Francisco Guerrero.”]
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
    A few days ago, the president of Corpus Christi Watershed posted this urgent appeal for funds. Please help us make sure we’re never forced to place our content behind a paywall. We feel it’s crucial that 100% of our content remains free to everyone. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity, entirely dependent upon the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment and no major donors. We run no advertisements and have no savings. We beg you to consider donating $4.00 per month. Thank you!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

“It will not be Rome to tell you what you should do, no: because you have the charism. …you have the Holy Spirit for this. If Rome were to begin to make the decisions it would be a blow to the Holy Spirit, who works in the particular Churches.”

— Pope Francis (27 March 2023)

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Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.

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