The Universe is a Cathedral – What is Marvelous if For Everyone!

One of the most edifying experiences in life is to teach catechisms to a group of enthusiastic and innocent young children, whose souls are avid for what is True, Good and Beautiful.

Their souls are like sponges, just ready to soak up all the marvels of the Catholic Church, of Christian Civilization, of the Natural Order as seen in the marvelous aspects of creation.

They love to see little things, intricate marvels of God’s creation, like a drop of dew.  But they also love to also marvel at what is grand and immense, such as the sea.

To properly form a young soul, it is necessary to teach them in such a way that they can admire the grandeur of a great man like Charlemagne, and afterwards, marvel at a ladybug that lands on the window of the classroom.

Many discussion take place about where is the best place to send children for a well rounded education.

But too little emphasis  is placed on fostering the love of the marvelous in the child’s soul.  Because the Universe is a Cathedral, and there are sublime lessons to be learned in the consideration of every aspect of creation.

To say the marvelous doesn't exist is a way to say that God doesn't exist.

Our soul benefits immensely from considering God as the cause of creation, as an infinitely beautiful being reflected  in all the other beings that He created in a thousand ways.

Every creature, in one way or another, is a reflection of the uncreated beauty of God.

But above all, the beauty of God is reflected in the hierarchical and harmonic ensemble and ordering of all of these beings.

And in a certain sense, there is no better way for us to know the infinite and uncreated beauty of God than by analyzing the finite and created beauty of the Universe.

See the beauty of the ocean. 

The true art of teaching children should also encompass the art of understanding the sublime lessons of finding God by transcending from the simple marvelous of creation to the infinite perfection of the Maker of all Creation. 

We find that God left behind a little note in each of these things for us to read, ponder, admire and get to know Him better.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------(Photo:  by Mr. Brendel. Permission granted to use this photo by CC-BY-3.0; Released under the GNU Free Documentation License.)