Christ in His Heavenly Beauty

John Saward

Christ in His heavenly beauty does not shine alone.  There is no splendid isolation in His Godhead, for He is Light from Light, the consubstantial Son and Splendour of the Father, living and reigning with Him in the unity of the Holy Spirit.  And the glory of His manhood is not a private radiance, for He is the Light of the World, the Bridegroom who beautifies the Bride, the Lamb who is the lamp of a lustrous city.  The brightness of Christ’s pierced and risen flesh is incomparable but not incommunicable.  He is ‘beautiful above the sons of men’, and yet ‘grace is poured abroad in [His] lips’ (Ps 44:3). On His right stands the Queen (Ps 44:10), His Virgin Mother, clothed body and soul in His glory, and around her is her court, the numberless multitude made brilliant in His blood.  ‘Ipse est corona sanctorum’, He is the crown of all the saints, ‘Ipse, the only one, Christ, King, Head’.

John Saward

The Beauty of Holiness 

and the Holiness of Beauty:

Art, Sanctity & the Truth of Catholocism

[San Francisco: Ignatius Press]