The deepest concerns of man and woman are related to love and beauty. In God's revelation of Love Incarnate, we see a vision of perfect beauty. The Catholic faith-response to revelation remains deficient if it excludes the contemplation of beauty. This article discusses initially the need for beauty and what beauty is. Next, the experience of beauty is explained through Beethoven's Fifth symphony. The steps of this experience are analogous to those of the act of faith. Central to both experiences is the movement of the beholder away from self toward the object of contemplation. This movement is accompanied by the subject's grasp of beauty. Beauty gives deep satisfaction; one loves it, is united to it, and is transformed by it.
