Today’s video is a graphically intense warning to all parents: your child, whether you want it or not, will be placed under the influence of a level of graphic intoxication that will change their lives. Complete avoidance of exposure is practically impossible. How, then, to teach beauty?
One route is repeating to them 9,000 times a day: “Don’t watch TV”; “Don’t believe everything you see on the Internet”; “All those models are fake, you don’t have to be like that”. This route has some effect, but it is destined to end up in the banished land of “boring phrases my mother and father always say.” This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t say them –you should!–, it just means that it isn’t enough.
Another route, a much more interesting one, is called positive education in beauty. This is the route in which you, with your words, your actions, your personal example, and even with your glances (where you look), give positive examples of beauty to your children.
Beauty Pressure
Have you ever sat down and spoke with your sister or daughter about your own experience? Have you ever read about the life of a saint and said, “Look, do you see that woman? That is a beautiful woman!”? Have you shared with them articles, videos, documentaries that teach of the dangers of the world’s message of beauty? Have you reminded them of what Christ teaches us about beauty?
All these questions and many more we must ask ourselves. Because there is a war going on, a war for the “likeness and image” of the human person. Saying no to the world’s claim isn’t enough. Please, show them true beauty, and they will literally shine for the rest of their life.
5 Saints Who Demonstrate True Beauty to Share With Your Daughter
1. St. Brigid of Ireland – “When she learned that her beauty was the reason for the attentions of so many young men, she prayed fervently to God to take it from her.” (Catholic Online)
2. St. Lucy – It is said that St. Lucy was known for her beautiful eyes, but it is her zeal for the Lord that has made her a Saint.
3. St. Joan of Arc – “I am not afraid. I was born to do this.”
4. St. Germaine Cousin – St. Germaine was born with a deformed and paralyzed right hand and was also very weak and often ill. That did not stop her from glorifying God.
5. St. Agnes – “Christ has made my soul beautiful with the jewels of grace and virtue. I belong to Him Whom the Angels serve.”
Catholic Resources On Beauty And Body Image
