health-check domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /nas/content/live/brownpelican/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6121mfn-opts domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /nas/content/live/brownpelican/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6121
Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee by Ludolf Bakhuizen
Derek Rotty is a husband, father, teacher, and free-lance writer who lives in Jackson, Tennessee. He has written extensively on Catholic history, culture, faith formation, and family. He recently published his book Prophet of Hope: Fulton Sheen Responds to the Modern World, available on Amazon. Find out more about him & his work at www.derekrotty.com.
Author’s Note: The reflections in this article are based on essays contained in my new book, Praying with Sacred Art: Pondering the Mystery of Redemption Through Visio Divina, now available from Sophia Institute Press. My sincere hope is that the book aids readers in encountering Our Lord as the liturgical year unfolds.
God speaks to human beings through beauty. That is, Our Lord uses sensible realities to reach the human psyche, to touch our souls and captivate our hearts. Relying on the classical definition of beauty, made clearest in the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, a thing is beautiful if it coheres and will not fall apart; if it is balanced and fits well together; if it shines forth a proverbial light that transcends itself. Beautiful things include sunsets, gardens, waterfalls, Gothic architecture, libraries, diligent scientific experiments, and the human person rightly understood, all of which can open a deeper conversation with the divine.
