Let’s build a beautiful world

THIS should be our burning desire. And we should put all our strength in this direction. To be sure, it is for the good of all. Yes, we can and should build a beautiful world. But we have to start with our own selves, and then from us, let’s spread the fever around.

And by starting with our own selves, we mean that we have to make sure our spiritual life is first of all in order. That’s because failing in this, no matter what we do outside us, it is not going to be a beautiful world we will be building, no matter how we manage to project some signs of beauty in it.

We have to understand that beauty, the real beauty that can take on any condition we can find ourselves in this world, can only be found in God. And for his part, he is most willing to share that sense of beauty with us who are his image and likeness and children of his.

To build a beautiful world, we have to learn to connect the often hidden dots between the material and the spiritual, the temporal and the eternal, the mundane and the sacred, the inside and the outside. We have to learn to find meaning in every situation in our life, be it pleasant or unpleasant, joyful or sorrowful. The big problem we have today is precisely our failure to connect these dots.

As St. Paul would put it, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Phil 4,11-13)

We need to understand that beauty is a matter of love that comes from God and that brings us back to him, transforming us into his image and likeness. Beauty is not just mainly physical or mathematical. It’s not simply a matter of proportion, of texture, of feelings and the like. It’s a matter of love. It’s not meant to fade and die. It’s meant to last in eternity.

With this love, we would know how to derive good from evil, how to purify what is dirty, how to supernaturalize what is simply natural. We would know how to deal with our limitations and weaknesses, temptations and sins.

With this love, we would know how to handle the many differences that we can have among ourselves. These and even our unavoidable disagreements and conflicts would not compromise our charity towards others. We would be most understanding, compassionate and forgiving. In fact, we would try our best to be helpful to others without expecting any reward.

Yes, these are some ways we can build beauty in this world as we should, because the world itself comes from God and thus also belongs to him. We have a tremendous responsibility in bringing it back to God as he wants it to be.

The beauty of the world depends on the love-driven beauty of each one of us. We have to help one another in pursuing this goal of building a beautiful world. Thus, we have to do a lot of apostolate, mainly through friendship and confidence even as we take advantage of the many technologies now available that can facilitate our relation with others.

Let’s be sowers of goodness and love, for this is how we can truly build a beautiful world. In other words, we simply to have to become genuine saints, because that is the only way we can such sowers.