A SANCTUARY RENEWED (FATHER’S FAITH NOTES: JULY 4, 2021)

This week, Fr. Steven, our new Director of Evangelization and Catechesis, offers a guest article on our upcoming renovation work.

When Fr. Michael presented the plans for the church renovation a couple of weeks ago, I grew excited. I imagined entering the church, eyes immediately being drawn to the brightness and beauty of the marble sanctuary. The most sacred things deserve the finest materials and workmanship: interestingly, this principle brought me to consider God’s lavish creation and the sacred order he established to reflect his glory.

To those weighed with worry, Jesus invited: “consider the lilies, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Lk 12:27). If we consider not only the lilies, but the thousands, maybe millions of species of flowers of all shapes and hues, if we consider of the array of birds that grace the air, if we consider the stars and solar systems and galaxies, the overwhelming majority of which lay outside our view, if we finally consider man and woman of every race and tongue, we might hear what each creature acclaims: we reveal something of God’s inner richness and beauty!

Then, we return to the church building, a reflection of such magnificent superabundance of beauty and order. This sacred space images both the original splendor of Eden and the unspeakable glory of the New Jerusalem to come, “having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.” (Rev 21:10). Together, we shall renew our place of worship. In doing so, we will make manifest in a new way God’s own splendor and ours in Him.