CS Lewis has said, “We do not want merely to see beauty… we want something else which can hardly be put into words- to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it.”
Though I have the benefit of living in a place of great visual beauty, it is when I am on vacation, travelling, that I have opportunity to not only see the beauty around me, but also to breath it into my lungs, into my very soul … so that what I see pierces into who I am, providing an experience of oneness, like communion.
These experiences are deeply spiritual, deeply personal and immensely rejuvenating, reminding me who I am, what I am part of and to whom I belong.
As hubby and I traverse this week, I participated in such a holy service, in the cathedrals made of rock, wood, sand and water. I partook of the elements offered to me, ““in remembrance of him.” (1 Corinthians 11:24a, 25a).
“For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you … For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” 1 Corinthians 11:23a, 26)
I find, in these wide-opened, sacred spaces, that I feel the words of hymns or spiritual songs whose words were inspired by similar services of communion. It is such sweet sacrament.
In this case, it was the hymn, For the Beauty of the Earth, written by Folliott S. Pierpoint, sometime before 1864
- For the beauty of the earth,
- For the beauty of the skies,
- For the Love which from our birth
- Over and around us lies:
- Christ, our God, to Thee we raise
- This our Sacrifice of Praise.
- For the beauty of each hour
- Of the day and of the night,
- Hill and vale, and tree and flower,
- Sun and moon and stars of light:
- Christ, our God, to Thee we raise
- This our Sacrifice of Praise.
- For the joy of ear and eye,
- For the heart and brain’s delight,
- For the mystic harmony
- Linking sense to sound and sight:
- Christ, our God, to Thee we raise
- This our Sacrifice of Praise.
- For the joy of human love,
- Brother, sister, parent, child,
- Friends on earth, and friends above;
- For all gentle thoughts and mild:
- Christ, our God, to Thee we raise
- This our Sacrifice of Praise.
- For each perfect Gift of Thine
- To our race so freely given,
- Graces human and Divine,
- Flowers of earth, and buds of Heaven:
- Christ, our God, to Thee we raise
- This our Sacrifice of Praise.
- For Thy Bride that evermore
- Lifteth holy hands above,
- Offering up on every shore
- This Pure Sacrifice of Love:
- Christ, our God, to Thee we raise
- This our Sacrifice of Praise.
- For Thy Martyrs’ crown of light,
- For Thy Prophets’ eagle eye,
- For Thy bold Confessors’ might,
- For the lips of Infancy:
- Christ, our God, to Thee we raise
- This our Sacrifice of Praise.
- For Thy Virgins’ robes of snow,
- For Thy Maiden Mother mild,
- For Thyself, with hearts aglow,
- Jesu, Victim undefiled,
- Offer we at Thine own Shrine
- Thyself, sweet Sacrament Divine.
itsawonderfilledlife 