Some say that beauty is a more “subjective” category, for example, is “beauty in the eye of the beholder?” But throughout the Catholic tradition, works of art and experiences of nature have been constantly regarded as revelations of the divine. They are often drawn from experiences of the five senses—though the addition of “nature” is a more combined sensory experience. We will examine how we find God in Beauty through five “channels” or topics.

From the earliest days of the Christian Church, we have been a “faith seeking understanding” (St. Anselm). Nowhere is this more true than the Roman Catholic tradition. Therefore, to choose five particular topics or “channels” in which to explore Finding God in Truth is an embarrassment of riches. For this resource, we have decided to draw these topics from a more general pool, but one which should allow varying levels of understanding by the different age groups. We have based the list on topics/elements often ascribed to “characteristics of Catholicism.” This is based on different authors from Richard McBrien to Richard Rohr to Thomas Groome. Though each author had a slightly different approach to the question, their characteristics were quite similar. And though each author’s characteristics usually numbered seven or eight, only five were chosen for this exercise.

To consider the category of Finding God in Goodness, we can extrapolate from the reflections and ideas in the last topic of “Truth”—Social Justice is Constitutive to Our Faith. And as noted in that topic, each of these topics can be viewed through the lens of both service and action for justice, as appropriate to the developmental capabilities of the age group. Thus, the most complete ideas for exercising the topic would be found in adolescent groups. (Once again, an excellent tool for understanding is the US Bishops’ “Two Feet of Love” materials cited in the introduction to the last topic.) For the category of Goodness, we have chosen to use topics/channels from a very traditional source: the Corporal Works of Mercy. Once again, though the tradition enumerates seven works, only five of the seven are proposed here.