Beauty Makes Everything Easier

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, and I saw the holy city coming down out of heaven. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. – Revelation 21:1-2, 11 abridged (NIV) 

During the restoration of Notre Dame after the 2019 fire, a reporter toured the roof where carpenters were securing the rebuilt rafters.  

They told him that the wood they were using was from oak trees selected to match exactly the contours of the damaged ancient beams. Each had been carved meticulously to duplicate the peculiarities of the hand-tooled originals, including the medieval maker’s mark on the undersides.  

Those details were high and hidden, not for show. The public will never see them. “‘Faithful’ only begins to describe this effort,” the reporter wrote. 

The pressure to finish on time was immense, but the worksite was surprisingly calm, imbued with quiet joy and certitude. When he asked one worker what the job meant to her, no words came. She wept. 

The team leader acknowledged that the work was beset with unimaginable difficulties every day. Then he added, “But it’s different when you work on something that has a soul. Beauty makes everything easier.” 

It’s daunting to try to rebuild something that’s been horrifically damaged. It takes everything you have. Details matter, the hidden ones more than anyone will ever know. It takes such a long time, too. The pressure is overwhelming. So much is at stake.  

But because you’re working on something soulful – human kinship, structures of justice and care, a polity of tender mercy, a new earth; and because what you’re laboring on, what you’re laboring for, what you’re being given is so beautiful, you return to the jobsite of the world each day in calm, in joy, in receptive trust, and grateful flowing tears. 

Prayer
With You we are rebuilding here on earth your damaged house of love. Ground us in its vivifying beauty. It makes everything easier.

About the Author
Mary Luti is a long time seminary educator and pastor, author of Teresa of Avila’s Way and numerous articles, and founding member of The Daughters of Abraham, a national network of interfaith women’s book groups.