Beauty and the Liturgy
Romano Guardini begins to speak of aesthetics in a somewhat cautionary tone, with similar warning that he gives to emotion earlier in his book, The Spirit of the Liturgy. Guardini warns that the aesthetes, or those with a special affinity for beauty, may be lured into our Churches, but they are not the ideal parishioner. We should not aspire to be gluttons for the beautiful. It is not where our salvation lies.We are not to forget what the liturgy is, “in the liturgy God is to be worshiped by the body of the faithful, and the latter is in its turn to derive sanctification from this act of worship”(p.19).Guardini proposes that the liturgy is how we are called to live and be sanctified, through it we are formed and attuned to its beauty.
So should the liturgy be beautiful? Yes, Guardini would say. But he would never set out to make the liturgy appear in this way. He would set out to worship and to seek the salvation of souls. If beauty should come of it, well isn’t that a coincidence. Perhaps even a symbol. Guardini offers a view of art and beauty akin to that of Jacques Maritain. Beauty cannot be sought after, but comes about from what is true. “If a life is true it will automatically become beautiful, just as light shines forth when flam is kindled’ (p.80). By this understanding, Guardini would call the liturgy beautiful. Not a spectacle to be produced, but a true worship and encounter with the Living God, which naturally is beautiful for what it is and what it signifies.
Our perception of the beauty of the liturgy is made possible by its materiality. Guardini speaks on symbols and their use of the material, as if fitting for us as physical beings. If the liturgy was to be solely, spiritual and still, it would not form us as the spiritual and physical beings we were created. He explains, “the liturgy wishes to teach, but not by means of an artificial system of aim-conscious educational influences; it simply creates an entire spiritual world in which the soul can live according to the requirements of its nature” (p.66).
But one could ask Guardini, is beauty in the eye of the beholder? Not quite. He is clear to explain that our ability to experience the liturgy as beautiful, is secondary. Through our true worship and encounter with God we can come to greater perception, “it is only when we premise the truth of the liturgy that our eyes are opened to its beauty” (p.84). The experience of the beauty of the liturgy is a gift, as is our salvation. The perception of beauty “On the whole, however, and as that as everyday life is concerned this precept holds good, ‘Seek the kingdom of God and His justice and all else be added to you’ — all else, even the glorious experience of beauty” (p.84). The liturgy may be a place of beauty, a place of emotion, a place of thought. But it always remains a haven of peace in which our soul rests in worship, in the hoping and preparing for eternity.