The Whole dwells in the fragment, the infinite erupts into the finite: the Crucified God is the form and splendor of eternity in time. On the cross, the Verbum abbreviatum—the self-emptying of the eternal Word—reveals beauty as tiny infinity. — Bruno Forte, The Portal of Beauty: Towards a Theology of Aesthetics
Exploring the relationship between God and beauty, between the Splendor of the Whole and the beauty visible in a fragment, Archbishop Forte examines Augustine’s thought and quotes the following analogy in which the beauty of creation points the soul back to God. From Augustine’s Confessions: “What am I loving when I love you? Not bodily beauty nor the gracefulness of age; nor light’s brightness, so dear to these eyes of mine; not the sweet melodies of song, nor the fragrance of flowers, of perfumes, of aromas; not manna, nor honey; not the body so dear to the embraces of the flesh: no, these are not the things I love when I love my God. And yet in a certain sense I do love light and sound, smell and food and embrace, when I love my God, the light, sound, smell, food, and embrace of my inner being. There, a light shines for my soul untrammeled by space; there, I hear a sound that does not disappear into time; there, I smell a perfume that the wind does not carry off; there, I savor things that no gluttony makes sickly; there, I experience an embrace never to be broken by surfeit. All this I love when I love my God. So then I asked the earth, ‘What is all this?’ and it replied: ‘It is not me.’ And all the things on earth gave me the same answer. I quizzed the sea and its depths, the living things that move there, and they replied: ‘We are not your God, seek higher.’ . . . And then I said to all those things seated before the door of my senses, ‘If it is not you, tell me something about my God, speak to me of him.’ And with a mighty voice all cried: ‘He is our creator.’ I looked at the creatures, and asked; their beauty was their answer.”
Comments welcome.