The most abused (or unused) gift from God

Source: Biblical Bookworm via YouTube.com

When I was a little girl, I remember a priest saying that “beauty is the most abused and unused gift from God”. After this idea has been living in my mind for years, I decided to expand on it in this video. Drawing the line between beauty and vanity/immodesty isn’t an easy feat but since beauty has immense power this is certainly a theological problem worth thinking about.

Timestamps:
00:00 The Most Abused (or Unused) Gift from God
00:50 Power of Beauty
02:39 Practical Implications – Expressing Beauty
06:08 Expressing Dignity
07:23 Lust vs. Love

Book review of “God is Beauty”: the book won’t give you a systematic understanding of beauty but it contains many thoughtworthy reflections. What I really liked about it, is that this is one of the very few theological books that are just beautiful – nothing controversial, nothing that is hard to hear, just beautiful ideas. So if that is something you’re currently looking for, you can buy it here: https://amzn.to/3VtgQK4

Free audible trial (I recieve a commission when you sign up for a free trial at audible with this link 😊): https://www.audibletrial.com/biblical…

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Sources: [1] cf.: Lewis, Surprised by Joy (1955) p 17; Pieper, Divine Madness (1995) p 48.
[2] Lewis, Mere Christianity (1952) p 75.
[3] more detailed: “God is Being”: Summa Theologica, Part I, Question 3; “God contains all perfections”: Summa Theologica, Part I, Question 4; “properties of being”: Summa Theologica, Part I, Question 5.
[4] de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life (1609) III.25.
[5] Schmitz, This Is the Christian Solution to Vanity, Ascension Presents, (2020) • This Is the Christian Solution to Vanity .
[6] Dostoevsky, The Idiot (1868) Part 3, Chapter 5.
[7] cf.: CCC 2522.
[8] cf.: de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life (1609) III.25 icw. National Catholic Register, 3 Doctors of the Church on the Virtue of Modesty in Dress (2019) https://www.ncregister.com/blog/3-doc….
[9] cf.: Aquinas, Summa Theologica, II II, Q. 169, Art. 1; Introduction to the Devout Life, III.25.
[10] CCC 2351 icw. Catholic Answers, What’s Looking and What’s Lusting? (2024) https://www.catholic.com/qa/whats-loo….
[11] Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I-II, q. 26, a. 4.
[12] Wojtyla/St. John Paul II et al., God is Beauty (1962/2021), Part III, Lesson III.
[13] St. John Paul II, Theology of the Body (1979-1984) p 49.
[14] Willis et al., Pornography Use, Gender, and Sexual Objectification: A Multinational study (2022) with further references: https://link.springer.com/article/10…..