Sunday, November 01, 2009

A Saint's Day Surprise


As we walked into Church today, we were in for a great Saint's Day surprise--on either side of the altar were 2 life size statues of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary!  I knew our parish was raising funds for their purchase but I didn't know they had already been bought, nor did I realize that they were going to be so big!!

Our church is not that large in and of itself.  I think it fits about 200 people inside comfortably and snugly.  The odd thing is, these statues make the building look bigger, not smaller.  They dwarf the reader, who must stand underneath and in front of the statue of Our Lady, and literally put things "in perspective". 

It is no longer about "us".  Our focus is now on the unmistakable illustration of Love right in front of our eyes.  The richly colored statues draw our attention away from whatever it is that might be distracting us on any given Sunday and towards what we are in Church for--the celebration of the Holy  Eucharist and a literal reaching back to embrace a God who has been reaching towards us from all eternity. 

What a wonderful gift!  I am blessed to have lived long enough to see some of the beautiful God-inspired artwork come back into the churches.




2 comments:

TACParent said...

Wow, I bet you were surprised. Remember when we went away on our 45th birthday and they had so many huge statues on their paths? Do you remember the stories of how they got them? Very interesting.

Staying in Balance said...

I do remember that birthday, but, sadly, my brain has allowed the specific info on how they got their statues to fade from my memory. I think I remember something about their stained glass windows being from a church...but I'm not sure.

Dymphna's favorite quotes


"Slavery ended in medieval Europe only because the church extended its sacraments to all slaves and then managed to impose a ban on the enslavement of Christians (and of Jews). Within the context of medieval Europe, that prohibition was effectively a rule of universal abolition. "— Rodney Stark

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