Christus Vivit 183: Finding Beauty In One’s Roots

More today on “Young people with roots.” Pope Francis’ Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation is on this link at the Vatican site. First, resist exploitation that emphasizes appearances:

183. Dear young friends, do not let them exploit your youth to promote a shallow life that confuses beauty with appearances.

More than skin deep? The beauty described here is true, but needs a deeper look:

Realize that there is beauty in the laborer who returns home grimy and unkempt, but with the joy of having earned food for his family. There is extraordinary beauty in the fellowship of a family at table, generously sharing what food it has. There is beauty in the wife, slightly dishevelled and no longer young, who continues to care for her sick husband despite her own failing health. Long after the springtime of their courtship has passed, there is beauty in the fidelity of those couples who still love one another in the autumn of life, those elderly people who still hold hands as they walk. There is also a beauty, unrelated to appearances or fashionable dress, in all those men and women who pursue their personal vocation with love, in selfless service of community or nation, in the hard work of building a happy family, in the selfless and demanding effort to advance social harmony. To find, to disclose and to highlight this beauty, which is like that of Christ on the cross, is to lay the foundations of genuine social solidarity and the culture of encounter.

Interesting that a pope and priest would use examples from love and family and liken them to the Passion of the Lord. Any comments?

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