“Religion is a thread that unwinds through time to approach the different contexts of thought.” Would you believe it if we told you that this sentence was pronounced by a beauty queen? She is Lauriane Sallin, 22, the reigning Miss Switzerland, and she is a reminder to look beyond stereotypes.
A student in French and Art History at the University of Freiburg, Sallin expanded on her Catholic faith and her vision of God in an interview with the Catholic news site, Cath.ch, and revealed herself to be profound young woman, full of common sense.
“My faith has developed especially through my reading, from Aristotle to Descartes”
After much wondering about the meaning of life, the young woman discovered reading page after page that “humanity kept confronting these realities,” in particular the pursuit of happiness: “I think happiness is possible, but first you have to clarify what it is,” she said. “I personally connect it to certain basic principles of the Christian faith: respect, love of neighbor.”
The word is out: Miss Switzerland is truly moved by the Catholic faith. While admitting that “in [her] family, everyone is a believer,” religion is not for her just a matter of having been influenced: “For me, faith is not a request from my parents, but something personal. It’s mine. It developed especially through my reading, from Aristotle to Descartes, and the Gospel of Luke. I wanted to understand this Gospel story. To do this, I had to study the context. It takes effort, but it’s the only way to grasp its meaning, ” she says.
“In every man, there is a part of the Kingdom of God”
Thus, one thing leading to another, she realized how religion helped her to take a step back and put things in perspective. “We live in an age of the instantaneous,” she says. She became aware of this especially through the loss of her sister: “Faced with the death of my sister, I just could no longer settle for the immediate, what was happening that second — because what was happening that second was my sister dying. I had to get beyond that.” She perceived this sense of what is “beyond” through a friend who one day said these words: “In every man, there is a part of the Kingdom of God,” an expression that has marked her deeply.
Gradually, God becomes the one who pushes us to move forward: “For me, God is the only possibility. He is the One who helps us to get beyond ourselves.” On the subject of death, the young woman is plain: “You know, the rules are clear: we live, so we’ll all die. The great tragedy is not that; it is the lie that one tells oneself when one is convinced that a 24-year-old can’t die.”
About the beauty contest and beauty in general, Miss Switzerland says, “Beauty and the harmony of shapes have always attracted and soothed the eye. Just as I ask myself the question of happiness, I try to understand what beauty is. To grasp its meaning, we must go beyond plasticity. For me, beauty is a path to harmony,” she says, adding: “I try to be a little bit like an allegory in order to bring people a little further. ”
Translated from the French
And today we celebrate...