Lent: Week 5, Day 1: Beauty in the Flaws

Wabi-sabi is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete.

It is a beauty of things modest and humble.

It is a beauty of things unconventional.

~Leonard Koren

In the Japanese culture, the term wabi-sabi refers to "flawed beauty". It is defined as the beauty of things that are imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. Paintner explains that "It is a way of honoring that everything is impermanent, and we are always in a state of both becoming and falling away". I remember reading Painter's book, Eyes of the Heart, for the first time. Her challenge to me, as a photographer, was to intentionally gaze upon things that others would turn away from. The spiritual practice was to find the sacred presence in places of imperfection and moments of decay. It was a call to find the sacred in all things, even what seemed ugly. What a challenge!

Jesus had a habit of showing love and mercy to flawed people. He saw potential and beauty in each person, even in the prostitute, the thief, the untouchable person with leprosy and the one with an evil spirit. The story of Zacchaeus is another example of Jesus seeing what other's found disgusting. Zacchaeus was a tax collector who worked for the Roman Empire and was loathed for betraying his own people and benefitting financially. Jesus saw goodness and value in Zacchaeus despite his immense wealth acquired on the backs of the poor. He invited himself to his home which was unthinkable! That gesture of mercy transformed Zacchaeus. He made the choice to face his flaws and mend his relationships by repaying four times those he defrauded and giving half of his possessions to the poor.

Our challenge is to imitate the values of Jesus and see the sacred presence in flawed persons and places of imperfection, to welcome the broken and vulnerable, to love the immigrant, the homeless, the unlovable, and even our enemy. Let us look for "flawed beauty" this week and be open to surprise.

Song: The Mercy on Me by Porter's Gate

Prayer:

What is a blessing but a rain of grace

falling generously into the lives of those in need;

and who among us is without need?

May the Spirit touch your spirit.

May this day be a pathway strewn with blessings.

May your work this day be love made visible.

May you breathe upon the wounds of those with whom you work.

May you open yourself to God's breathing.

May you honor the flame of love that burns inside you.

May your voice this day be a voice of encouragement.

May your life be an answer to someone's prayer.

May you own a grateful heart.

May you have enough joy to give you hope,

enough pain to make you wise.

May there be no room in your heart for hatred.

May you be free from violent thoughts.

When you look into the window of your soul,

may you see the face of God.

May the lamp of your life shine upon all you meet this day.

~Macrina Wiederkehr

Reflection

• Engage in the spiritual practice of looking for "flawed beauty" in persons, places, objects, nature, etc.

• What happened in you as you attempted to see the sacred in all things?

Resources

O'Donohue, J. (2003). Beauty: The Invisible Embrace. New York: Harper Perennial.

Valters Paintner, c. (2013). Eye of the Heart. Notre Dame, IN: Sorin Books.

Weiderkehr, M. (2008). Seven Sacred Pauses: Living Mindfully Though the Hours of the Day. Notre Dame, IN: Sorin Books.