What is the point of art? What is the point of music or painting, illustration or photography? What is the point of architecture or fashion?
In the 21st century, many activities and professions once considered art forms have taken on an altogether utilitarian trait. Industries like filmmaking have devolved to accommodate producers chasing a bottom line and viewers who consume only to escape reality.
It doesn’t pay to create a thoughtful piece of media when a trite superhero movie would do much better at the box office. Beautiful art and beautiful buildings aren’t appreciated in a world where everybody is glued to their phones.
Largely, we have lost the meaning and purpose of beauty and so are unable to see things as anything other than a means to an end: Movies and books are vehicles for escapism and pleasure, reprieves from the difficulty and drudgery of daily life. Music is for altering our emotions and mood. Even subtle things like park benches and street lamps, once crafted with character, are now faceless poster children for a society that has divorced beauty from utility.
Where has the beauty gone?
Art is the human endeavor to capture – directly or indirectly – the magnificence and beauty of the divine. Good art, no matter the medium, should point us to the One who created the most beautiful work of art: our universe and everything in it, including us.
Few understood and appreciated the splendor of the world quite like St. Francis of Assisi, who exhibited a profound reverence for the work of God seen in nature.
St. Francis admired the divine imprint on the natural world so much that he composed a poem known as the Canticle of the Creatures. In it, he sings the praises of God through the voices of His creation.
If we can relearn how to recognize and produce beauty as St. Francis did, we can, through art, grow closer to God, who poured beauty into every star, every tree, and every soul that he created.
Excerpt from the Canticle of the Creatures
…
Praised be you, my Lord,
through Sister Moon and Stars.
In heaven you have formed them,
lightsome and precious and fair.
And praised be you, my Lord,
through Brother Wind, through
air and cloud, through calm
and every weather by which
you sustain your creatures.
Praised be you, my Lord,
through Sister Water,
so very useful and humble,
precious and chaste.
…
This week, during our 2026 Give Hope Pledge Drive, when you make a gift of $1,200+, you will receive a St. Francis of Assisi Statuette. This figure is a beautifully crafted tribute to one of the Church’s most beloved saints, inspiring humility, generosity, and a renewed commitment to rebuilding God’s Kingdom.
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