Can we know what true beauty and goodness is? Is there an objectivity that these attributes, or are they just what you perceive them to be? Let us focus on what God has created women to be and what society tells them to be. Does the truth lie that women are successful career women to the exclusion of their own feminine nature, that depend on the admiration of others for their self-esteem, or that the only physical objects of pleasure? Or are they called to find the truth about the dignity of the model of Mary, Virgin Mother of God, which reflects and participates in the divine truth, beauty and goodness of all creation is called to reflect and share? The question of truth, beauty and goodness is something that has fascinated men for centuries. The pagan philosophers try to identify what is true, good and beautiful. For Christians, however, there can be no other answer than that which confirms that the triune God is true and good, and the good. By his being God is all three. Everything else, just by participating. We know this because God has chosen to reveal Himself to us. Catechism of the Catholic Church # 2500 says that "before revealing Himself to man in the word of truth, God reveals himself to (you) through the universal language of creation." All creation reflects its author, and therefore we can see something of beauty in creation. Truth, beauty and goodness, which is called the "transcendental century," can not be separated from each other because they are a device that Trinity is one. The truth is beautiful in itself. And goodness describe all that God has done. "God saw all that he had done, and it was very good" (Gen.1: 31). Man is the top of the Creator's works, as the Scripture expresses a clear distinction in the creation of man from other creatures. "God created man in His own image ..." (Genesis 1:27). Thus, not only created good and beautiful, but he was also established in friendship with their Creator and in harmony with himself and with creation around him in a state that would be surpassed only by the glory of the new creation in Christ. The inner harmony of the first man, the harmony between the first man and woman (Adam and Eve) and harmony between the first pair and all of creation, called "original justice." This entire harmony of original justice was lost by sin our first parents . Created in a state of holiness, man was destined to be completely "divinized" of God in glory. But he preferred himself to God and obeyed God's command. Thus, Adam and Eve immediately pardon original holiness, and the harmony which had been destroyed. They were separated from Beauty itself. God has not abandon man, who all share in Adam's sin, because "a man's disobedience, all were made sinners" (Romans 5:12). In the fullness of time God sent His Son to restore what was lost. The son, who is "beauty in the human child," came to restore us to the beauty. We will turn now to the beauty. Von Balthasar once remarked that when one attempts to draw others to God, he should start with beauty, because beauty attracts. Beauty will then lead to truth and goodness. Therefore, if one will start with the beauty you have to know what beauty is. I will make a distinction between two kinds of beauty, even if only one of them is beauty in the truest sense of the definition. There are "seductive" beauty, which is often reflected in our current culture. This would lead to even tempt us to our self-destruction (morally or spiritually). It takes us away from what we are made of, union with Beauty itself. This kind of beauty I will return, but first I want to provide the definition and understand what the "true" beauty is. This is first of all, what attracts us to our true fulfillment and happiness. In his book, the beauty of holiness and the holiness of beauty, John Saward, based on the work of St.Thomas Aquinas, defines beauty as "the shining of substantial or actual shape of the proportions in parts of material things. "In other words, while one can find beauty in the outside, one must go deeper to the nature or essence of the thing. "Thus, in a material substance (such as one) there is beauty in the heart of one thing shines clear through their looks." The beauty of a soul can be said to shine through a person's face. For this to happen, three things are necessary-wholeness (integrity), because part (harmony) and radiance (brightness). It is important to note that when used in this definition is the fact that beauty is a reality in itself, it is not something that we produce by looking at an artwork or any other thing that attracts us. Rather radiates beauty of what we see. It radiates as it participates in beauty itself. Concerning Jesus, "Christian tradition - from Augustine and Hilary to Peter Lombard, Albert, Thomas and Bonaventure - believe that beauty can be appropriated in a special way to the other person ..." St. Thomas says that all three brands of beauty found in Jesus. Radiance is in him because he is the Father's word, and uttered the word eternally from the Father completely and perfectly expresses Him. He is the brightness of the Father's mind. Because of the share in God's son because he is the perfect image of the Father. As the perfect image, he is divine beauty. Jesus has the big picture as he has in itself the whole nature of the Father. In begetting the Son, the Father communicates his entire divine essence. Therefore we have a divine person, the Son of God, that without ceasing to be true God, made very man for us in the Virgin's womb. When you see the Virgin and child, see a witness to the Trinity. Pope John Paul II explains that this image of mother and child "is a quiet but firm statement on Mary's virgin motherhood, and for that very reason, the Son of divinity." It is as such a witness to the Trinity that makes Mary a special place in relation to the true, the good and the beautiful. The Blessed Virgin, said the fifteenth century poet John Lydgate, is the "fairest mother who ever lived." When Dante reaches Paradise, he finds the beauty of God's most perfectly reflected in Mary, of which he was born. Therefore, we see how Mary is to be for everyone, but especially women, a model of true beauty, and thus, goodness and truth, as she reflects a breakdown in the life of the Trinity. "All the beauty of the soul and the body as the Son of God came into the world, all suavity He wanted to waste the human race, summed up in, and mediated by the person he ever virgin," a woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars "(Rev. 12:1). If there is beauty, it is here. "To understand Mary's beauty, one must know of the gifts bestowed on her, and her response to those rewards, which put her in intimate contact with beauty, herself. Scripture revealed God's word tells us that "the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth, To a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph ... and the virgin's name was Mary. And he (the angel) came to her and said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you! ... Do not be afraid Mary, you have found favor with God. And see, you will conceive and bear a son, and you shall call him Jesus. He will be great and be called the Son of the Highest High ... And Mary said: 'How can this be because I have no husband? "But the angel said to her:" The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, therefore, that the child, the child shall be called holy, the Son of God. "... And Mary said, Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your word "(Lk 1:26-38). To be the mother of the Savior, Mary was given the gifts as required and as befits such a role. Mary was greeted as "full of grace," as if it was her real name. A name expresses a person's identity. "Full of Grace" is Mary's essence, its identity, and meaning of their life. Maria full of grace the Lord is with her. The grace that she is filled is the presence of Him who is the source of all grace, and she is given to him who has come to stay with her and that she is about to give to the world. She is an amazing grace free from every stain of sin because of the merits of her Son. She possesses the harmony that Adam lost. Thus, she has the first two characteristics Beauty: due proportion (harmony) and integrity (whole) because by the benefits of his son and the fullness of grace that she has received, is her complete natural - unwounded and unstained by sin. Catechism of the Catholic Church proclaims that "Mary, the all-holy ever virgin mother of God, is the masterwork of the mission of the Son and the Spirit, in due course ... In her wonder "of God that the Spirit was to fulfill in Christ and the church began to be expressed. "Through Mary, the Holy Spirit begins to bring men" subject to God's merciful love, in communion with Christ. "Grace has been described as" God's better beauty, splendor of the soul. "And Mary, full of grace , radiates the splendor of spiritual beauty. Grace (sanctifying grace) gives us a part in the divine life, it satisfies our souls into the likeness of Christ. Mary in her abundance of grace is a reflective beauty of her Son. She possesses "radiance", which is the third of the qualities of beauty. The Great St. Bernard of Clairvaux explains that "considering the countenance of the mother is the best way to prepare to see the glorious face of the Son." Saward supports this idea by pointing to the fact that our Lord was conceived by the Holy Spirit without seed, Thus, there is only one man who he resembles in his humanity, and it is his maiden. How do Mary's beauty women now be a picture of true beauty, and therefore truth and goodness as well? Mary, Theotokos - Mother of God, the mother of infinite beauty, which itself is beautiful, will guide the women to that which is true and good. She shows the falsehood of "seductive beauty", as we noted above, any time attracts us to our self-destruction (morally or spiritually), by holding up his own "true" beauty of contrast. Before showing the essence of Mary's beauty, which meets the St. Thomas' demands for beauty: a whole, because of the proportion, and radiance, we will look at the society's claim about female beauty. Women today are told by society that what is good and beautiful is that which is glamorous and seductive. Beauty is separated from God, which is disregarded and Whose goodness is replaced with a "base mind and improper conduct" (Romans 1:28), which leads to both spiritual and often physical dissolution. The "truth" as they are taught is one who "believe that man (and thus, the woman), not as a person but as a thing, as an object of trade for the benefit of selfish interest and mere pleasure ... This falsehood produces such bitter fruits of contempt for men and for women, slavery, oppression of the weak, pornography, prostitution ... "Thus, beauty is often seen as a purely physical quality. It lacks a "good proportion" as only one aspect of the whole person into account. Society emphasizes the physical to the exclusion of the spiritual. On that same type of mentality, we see that women are honored more for his work outside the home than for their work in the family. What is "seen" as attractive is a woman who can achieve the "good" of a successful career, which promises happiness and "equality with men." To achieve this, women are often times either abandon their femininity and become a mere imitation of the male role. They are in a sense, trading in the quality of "integrity", which is necessary for true beauty, for society's limited claim to beauty. This "seductive beauty" that promises so much "good" results in a hedonism that distorts and falsifies human sexuality and the true dignity of the human person. This not only leads to a lack of respect for what femininity is to be there, because the truth of their personal dignity as created and redeemed by God is unknown, but also prevents women from achieving the "fullness of grace" as they were created . It leads to women spiritual destruction because they do not live a life of grace. They are not living for God. Mary, who lived a grace-filled life, is a model of redeemed woman. God "manifests the dignity of women in the highest form possible through the adoption of human flesh from the Virgin Mary, the Church honors as the Mother of God." The maximum height of human nature took place in the masculine gender, when Jesus, the Son of God, became human and male. The highest man took place in the female sex in the Virgin Mary. Her divine motherhood gives her a commanding dignity. She is "blessed among women." Therefore, all shares femininity in her blessing and was beaming with her. "When the Virgin Mary humbly honored for the sake of her Son, women will be honored ... for she has discovered the true beauty of femininity. "Look at what we have said about Mary, we know" full of grace "reveals her being, her identity. It is also the key to her reflection of the true, the good and the beautiful. It is the key to women to discover the truth about his own dignity, and thus receive the divine life which is offered by a life of grace. This is a life that will give them true goodness and beauty, which is a participation in the beauty of the Creator. For Mary is "full of grace," she possesses the whole that was lost by Adam. Because of grace, she is "brilliant as the sun," shows in her very being the clarity of a life connected to God. Such a union is lit up in a person's actions, actions are a reflection of God's goodness. "The practice of goodness is accompanied by spontaneous spiritual joy and moral beauty" (CCC 2500). These measures, which are called virtues, "acquired by education, by deliberate acts and a perseverance ever-renewed in repeated efforts purified and raised by divine grace" (CCC1810). Grace touches every dimension of human life. It is a gift from God that leads us closer to God. The closer we are to God, the more we reflect Him who is truth, beauty and goodness. Mary kept for us as a model of life in virtue. She is a guide to living a life of faithfulness to grace. Due to limited space, I will just briefly look at three of the virtues that Mary has, and calls us to imitate. They are faith, obedience and love. The church originated Mary as an "excellent example of faith and charity" (Lumen Gentium 53). We see their faith as she confide freely to God at the Annunciation, faith and trust the angel's message to her son being born to her would be the son of the Most High, certain that "with God nothing is impossible" commission (Lk. 1: 30). Her journey in faith continues in her response to what is happening in her life union with Jesus. She flees to Egypt where Joseph is directed to go there (Matthew 2:13-15), she returned in the same way (Matthew 2:19-23), and she faithfully persevere in her union with her Son to the cross ( cf LG # 58, Jn.19 :25-27), while they believe and trust in the wisdom of God's divine plan. She believed that her son, but was crucified and buried, would rise from the dead. She waited in prayer (Acts 1:14). Although we are called to be women of faith, faith in what God has revealed his plan for us and our salvation. Based on Mary's deep faith, she shows her loving obedience. She was not a servile obedience. Rather it was an obedience that flowed from humility. She knew the wisdom and greatness of God and therefore tried to live in conformity with it. Be obedient to God is supposed to respond in confidence to Mr Wise plan. Again, at the Annunciation, she responds in obedience to the angel, "Let it be with me as you say" (Luke 1:36). She obediently follow the instructions that the angel gives to Joseph, trust God. Mary remained obedient to her role as mother, even to the cross, which she obediently offers full consent of her intellect and will to Him whose ways are inscrutable. When we try to imitate Mary's obedience, we will find that it frees us from the slavery of sin. Obedience makes us beautiful because it opens us up to God's grace, to his life and love within us. Mary's faith and obedience to let her great love shine through. Mary, Mother fairest Love, possesses a self-humbling love, innocent of all narcissism. "It is for Christ and the glory of the Father, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, that our Lady is" all fair. "" She devotes herself "totally as a handmaid of the Lord to the person and work of His Son ... she does so freely "(LG # 56). This acceptance of her role as "Mother of the Son of God (is) controlled by the spouse's love, the love that fully justifies a man of God. By virtue of this love, Mary wished to be always and in all things to God. "This love which is faithful to his son during his life, until his cruel death on Calvary, go to the brothers of his son, the souls of travelers still on earth (cf. LG # 62-63). There is nothing more beautiful than charity, as we all called to practice, and which inspires and animates all the other virtues (cf. CCC 1827). Charity, in the form of all virtues, "binds everything together in perfect harmony" (Col. 3:14), one of the aspects of beauty. These virtues and the life of grace is possible for all women, who are trying to get to the truth and make use of the grace that comes from the merits of Jesus Christ, who came to restore humanity to the beauty of adopted children and "partakers of the divine nature" , (1 Pet. 1:3). St. Francis de Sales says that because of grace we are as Christ that we resemble God is perfect, because he became man, Jesus has taken our image and given us his. Therefore, we must do what we can to preserve this beauty and divine similarities that he has restored to us. Mary helps women to do so. Her beauty attracts, and because it attracts she leads us to Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life (Jn.14: 6). Mary is loved and honored because she reflects the truth, beauty and goodness of his son by his conduct, through her life of virtue. Her role is to lead others to him and the truth he teaches and is. This is seen by looking again at how the creation reflects God's beauty. Everything that God creates is good, it's beautiful. Jesus, who is the fullness of revelation, has brought the creation to an even greater dignity by restoring everything "according to the plan God was pleased to restore in Christ. A plan to be implemented in Christ, in due course, put everything into one in Him in the heavens and the earth "(Eph 1:9-10). Thus, harmony restored, everything is made whole, and his glory is made known. Because "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth, we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son of the Father" (John 1:14) Man was created in the image and likeness of God, Jesus renewed humanity in his immortal image. He restored us to the likeness of God. Mary reflects the beauty of her son in her demeanor. Maria is the one who will, in collaboration with her Divine Son, helping women to discover the truth about their feminine nature, to reflect the beauty of a child of God, and by God's grace to live that goodness that comes from God. Women, in order to achieve this ideal, must turn to Mary as a model, which has been chosen by God from all eternity to be the mother of his son, and to be a guide for us on our journey to true, the good, and the beautiful, our true fulfillment and happiness. Women should entrust themselves to Mary guidance because she is already there as they are called to be: full of grace. As the Church prays in the divine liturgy, "Lord, as we honor the glorious memory of the Virgin Mary, we pray with the help of their prayers, we too may share the fullness of Your grace," so that this grace, we too can reflect it is true, beautiful and good.
