So will the king desire your beauty...

Today being the 15th August, it is the Assumption of Mary into heaven - even though many of us, for example here in England and Wales, celebrated it yesterday. Normally, this would be a great excuse to continue reflecting on the Visitation, which is the feast-day Gospel: to spend time with this exuberant, joyous encounter; with recognition and affirmation, leaps of joy and words of blessing, and the wonderfulness of the Magnificat to top it all off. This was the Gospel I chose for my First Vows, so it sweeps in its own memories of an utterly joyous event, and a reminder of my own YES to God.

But yesterday, as I listened to the psalm, I was struck by a line: So will the king desire your beauty... This psalm is a wedding song, and the beauty here is entirely physical - but not so with God! We know that God looks beyond our outward appearance, beyond our attractiveness and poise, and also beyond our blemishes, to what lies in the depths of our hearts. 

So, what is the beauty that God saw in me all those years ago, and continues to see... and continues to desire; continues to yearn for more of? What is the beauty that I keep hidden, despite God's repeated urging to allow it to shine forth? What are the strengths, the light, the tenderness... And what are the wounds made whole, the scars which have been redeemed, the signs of healing and of growth? So will God desire all this beauty...

And you; what is the beauty that God sees, and desires in you? 


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