"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock.
And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell -- and great was its fall!" Matthew 7:24-27
"Mens sanna in corpore sano", it is well known that the health of the body and soul go hand in hand and are self-reinforcing. The same does not happen between a person’s physical beauty and his or her inner beauty.
"The face is the mirror of the soul" – In the attraction that we feel, for someone who is physically beautiful, seems to be an implicit and irrational belief that this person is also nice; that the beautiful appearance is nothing more than the sign and symbol of inner beauty, strength of character, maturity, self-control, generosity etc...
There are beautiful people who are unpleasant – In reality, in many people I have met, this correspondence between the two types of beauty, not only does not occur but it seems to be self-excluding. There are those who capitalize on their physical beauty, using it like a credit card, in the belief that with it everything in society is an open door; that everyone’s admiration and love are guaranteed. By thinking this way, these individuals do not apply themselves or make an effort to develop their inner beauty, and so they are often snobbish, unpleasant and proud.
- Beauty is innate, while charm or beauty of soul and character is acquired through effort, "No pain no gain", as they say in psychotherapy, if it does not hurt, if it does not cost anything, then there is no gain. Everything truly good in life costs either money or effort, or both.
- Beauty is an individual asset; it only benefits the person who possesses it. It is not relational, because it leads the person to put himself or herself on a self-erected pedestal and from others, he or she only requires their admiration. Charm is a social asset; charming people go out of themselves and establish relationships with others on an equal footing, creating peace, harmony and happiness.
- "Those who see faces do not see hearts" – Physical beauty only serves to attract people; it is the inner beauty that bonds them to each other in long lasting relationships of love or friendship.
- Beauty does not grow over time; on the contrary, it degrades; creams and plastic surgery only stop the degradation for a while; charm is likely to grow over time; with a little self-observation, self-criticism, self-discipline and willpower, a person can set himself or herself on a trajectory of continuous growth, towards perfection.
Those who adopt the primacy of charm over beauty age well; inner beauty is the best cosmetic for beautiful people, because it maintains their beauty regardless of their age; furthermore, like time, charm ends up improving the appearance of less beautiful people.
Those who adopt the primacy of beauty over charm age poorly; over time, the unpleasant, bad character, psychic and affective immaturity, the anger and resentment end up degrading the physical beauty on which the person has built his or her life; and like a house built on sand, great was its ruin.
Conclusion – As the good wine ages well, those who cultivate their inner beauty in time will also turn beautiful on the outside. Whereas those who rely on their outward appearance and don’t cultivate inner beauty, ion time their inner ugliness will ruin their physical beauty just like wine turning into vinegar.
Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC
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