THE HEXAEMERON:
Meditations of St. Basil The Great
THE SECOND DAY
"Then God said, 'let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.' Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day. Then God said, 'Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place and let the dry land appear;' and it was so. And God called the dry land earth and the gathering together of the waters He called seas. And God saw that it was good."
"And
God saw that it was good." God does not judge of the beauty of His
work by the charm of the eyes, and He does not form the same idea of beauty
that we do. What he esteems beautiful is that which presents in its perfection
all the fitness of art, and that which tends to the usefulness of its
end. He, then, who proposed to Himself a manifest design in His works,
approved each one of them, as fulfilling its end in accordance with His
creative purpose. A hand, an eye, or any portion of a statue lying apart
from the rest, would look beautiful to no one. But if each be restored
to its own place, to the beauty of proportion (until then almost unperceived)
its beauty would strike even the most uncultivated.
But the artist, before uniting the parts of his work, distinguishes and recognizes the beauty of each of them, thinking of the object that he has in view. It is thus that Scripture depicts to us the Supreme Artist, praising each one of his works. Soon, when the artist's work is complete, he will accord well-deserved praise to the whole together.
Let me here end my discourse on the second day, to allow my illustrious hearers to examine what they have just heard. May their memory retain it for the profit of their soul; may they by careful meditation inwardly digest and benefit by what I say. As for those who live by their work, let me allow them to attend all day to their business, so that they may come, with a soul free from anxiety, to the banquet of my discourse in the evening.
May God who, after having made such great things put such weak word in my mouth, grant you the intelligence of His truth, so that you may raise yourselves from visible things to the invisible Being, and that the grandeur and beauty of creatures may give you a just idea of the Creator. "For the visible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, and His power and divinity are eternal." Thus, earth, air, sky, water, day, night, all visible things, remind us who is our Benefactor. We shall not therefore give occasion to sin, we shall not give place to the enemy within us, if by unbroken recollection we keep God ever dwelling in our hearts, to Whom be all glory and all adoration, now and forever, world without end. Amen.
Selected Readings from the Hexaemeron