4.1 Response
STAGE 4: Towards the Likeness of Jesus Christ
JESUS AND HIS HUMANITY
THE CAPTIVATING BEAUTY
RESPONSE
Aim: To contemplate on and respond to the beauty and gentleness of the humanity of Jesus.
Reading
He is gentle in his looks (LEW 121): “Gentle is Jesus in his looks, and in his words and actions. The face of our loving Saviour is so serene and gentle that it charmed the eyes and hearts of those who beheld it. The shepherds who came to the stable to see him were so spellbound by the serenity and beauty of his face that they tarried for many days gazing in rapture upon him. The three Kings, proud though they were, had no sooner seen the tender features of this lovely child than, forgetting their high dignity, they fell down on their knees beside his crib. Time and again they said to one another, ‘Friend, how good it is to be here! There are no enjoyments in our palaces comparable to those we are experiencing in this stable looking at this dear Infant-God’. When Jesus was still very young, children and people in trouble came from the country around to see him and find comfort and joy. They would say to each other, ‘Let us go and see young Jesus, the lovely child of Mary’. St. John Chrysostom says, ‘The beauty and majesty of his face were at once so sweet and so worthy of respect that those who knew him could not prevent themselves from loving him […]’. Some writers tell us that the Roman soldiers and the Jews covered his face in order to strike and buffet him freely because there was in his eyes and face such a kindly and ravishing radiance as would disarm the most cruel of men”.
Comment
Before all else, Jesus is the face of God, icon of the Father. We beautifully express it in the hymn we recite at Morning Prayer, in the Liturgy of the Hours: Jesus is the brightness of the Father’s glory / springing from eternal light, / source of light by light engendered, / day enlightening every day.
The physical body of the historical Jesus received its form from Mary of Nazareth. Montfort writes: “He was born of the sweetest, the most tender and the most beautiful of all mothers, Mary, the divinely favoured Virgin. To appreciate the gentleness of Jesus we must first consider the gentleness of Mary, his Mother, whom he resembles by his pleasing nature. Jesus is Mary’s child; consequently there is no haughtiness, or harshness, or unpleasantness in him” (LEW 118).
No historical figure before or since the time of Jesus has influenced history, culture, science, and the arts in quite the way he did. The Evangelists tell us nothing about his physical appearance except by inference. Yet, artists have portrayed him as the God-Man in a way that is always recognizable yet different according to their own imaginations: as a good shepherd, as teacher and ruler, as healer and miracle-worker, as the symbol of human suffering.
Through the various musical periods, from Gregorian chant to the present, hymn-texts and music proclaim Jesus as Lord and saviour of all. However depicted, he is a conspicuous, compelling, unique figure, the hope of the world, a beauty beyond whom there is no greater beauty.
Personal Reflection and Sharing
How else, in my imagination, would I like to describe and comment upon the beauty of the humanity of Jesus?
How does my own humanity respond to the inspirations I receive from the humanity of Jesus?
[4-1] CALL RESPONSE COMMITMENT PRAYER