Seasoning
by Joellen McCarthy, BVM; Peggy Nolan, BVM and Mary Ann Zollmann, BVM

Dear SALT Readers,

This issue of SALT arrives with the summer solstice when our western hemisphere and we in it lean into the luxury of a season of leisure. With its longer days and invitation to vacation, summer provides space for us to hear the greeting of beauty in the wonders of nature, the presence of family and friends, the silence of solitude, or the creativity of a good book.

As you open the season of summer and this issue of SALT, you will be greeted by beauty manifest in one of its most ancient and enduring forms : the visual arts. Through the stories of a sampling of BVM artists and those who have been influenced by their art, beauty makes its appearance in delightful and inspiring ways.

• Beauty arrives, ever new and fresh, in expressions shaped by historical time, geographical place and social circumstances. As the history of art guides us through the centuries, we glimpse the human spirit in all its diversity; appreciate the gift of each society, culture and historical time; and are inspired to make our own unique contribution to this unfolding creative process.
  
• Beauty connects us to one another across generations and even into eternity. As teachers encourage students to engage with art, art awakens students to gifts they never knew they had, and those students go on to mentor others. As the artist shares what she loves, inspiration awakens inspiration in a stream of generativity. We pause to claim what we love and commit to passing it on.
  
• Beauty finds its source in uncommon courage. As artists testify, doing art is countercultural in times when value is measured by productivity, income and a plethora of good and ready words. Resisting the pressure of pragmatism, the artist carves out unconventional space, solitude and silence to sink beneath the superficial and release a vision. Standing before the “useless beauty” of painting, pottery or sculpture, we are drawn into what is truly worthwhile.
  
• Beauty liberates. Art evokes our deepest self and, at the same time, calls us to pay attention to the importance of our ordinary, every day world. In the presence of art, we reach inward and outward at once. Soul and body, spirit and world find their true whole and holy form. Art restores our integrity and liberates us to be artists of healing in our life and world.

To hear the greeting of beauty is to be transformed. Contemporary theologian Susan Ross highlights beauty's power in this way:

There is an intrinsic generosity that is characteristic of beauty. Real beauty does not exclude; rather, it invites. Real beauty does not “count up,” but rather flings its gifts to anyone who asks. Real beauty invites exploration and depth. Beauty is always ready to give more. The ability to appreciate beauty comes from a generous heart; indeed, beauty itself enlarges the heart ( For the Beauty of the Earth, New York, Paulist Press, 2006).

The season of summer with its greeting of beauty comes just at the right time for us and for our world so in need of generous expansion of heart. In the spirit of this summer SALT, may we hear and respond to the greeting of beauty in nature, friends and family, solitude in a favorite place, time with a good book, a concert in the park, a walk through an art museum, or…. In the words of the medieval poet Rumi,

Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

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©2007 Sisters of Charity, BVM