Mirror, Mirror...

Alright, so I thought I'd throw in my two cents regarding the discussion of Beauty that has been going on of late, especially regarding the beauty of souls. Let me here and now retract my statement that the perfect soul is like a mirror which most clearly reflects God's glory. When St. Paul says that "now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face", I assumed that 'glass' meant mirror, and it has been translated as such frequently; however, the more I read, the more I begin to think that 'glass' means 'glass'- that is, true beauty is not something to look at, but to look through. What I'm getting at here is the idea that beautiful souls (ie. saints) do not only reflect (which is a quality of glass), but also take in light and release it, like a precious, multi-faceted jewel. In this way, the transparency implied in the 'looking through' is not a negation of the soul, but a special glory and gift. This 'transparency' is hinted at several times by Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings, most often in connection with Frodo. After many long days of suffering and toil, the hobbits lie down to sleep in Ithilien, and Sam takes special notice of his master in the distant dawn: "The early daylight was only just creeping down into the shadows under the trees, but he saw his master's face very clearly, and his hands, too, lying at rest on the ground beside him. He was reminded suddenly of Frodo as he had lain, asleep in the house of Elrond, after his deadly wound. Then as he had kept watch Sam had noticed that at times a light seemed to be shining faintly within; but now the light was even clearer and stronger. Frodo's face was peaceful, the marks of fear and care had left it; but it looked old, old and beautiful, as if the chiselling of the shaping years was now revealed in many fine lines that had before been hidden, though the identity of the face was not changed. Not that Same Gamgee put it that way to himself. He shook his head, as if finding words useless, and murmured: 'I love him. He's like that, and sometimes it shines through, somehow. But I love him, whether or no.' (Two Towers, Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit)Maybe this is what is meant by the hints in Revelation towards our becoming like living stones: "...To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it." (Rev. 2:17)