Mother Church & House of Prayer: The Cathedral
A personal reflection by Eliora Anat
I do not need to be a liturgical expert, or architect, to appreciate the divinely inspired cathedral design. When I walk into most cathedrals in less frequented and more intimate silent times, I feel like I have arrived at home. On a sunny day, the cathedral will even be flooded with magnificently filtered light and the angels seem to sing in the brightest colours.
Baptism is our entrance into the Church of Christ. Jesus had spoken of the meaning of Christening: ‘Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.’ Baptism is our entrance into the Church of Christ; and, therefore, the font is mostly placed near the door of the cathedral - a living manifestation of this Holy Sacrament and a precious source of numerous fond memories of happy children and adults standing around in awe, joy, and expectation; celebrating that a new baby is being brought unto God to receive the holy water ‘shower’.Her/his name(s) are being charged with the Holy Spirit, and the child is welcomed into the Holy community (with everyone awaiting the baby’s response to it...).
After leaving the baptism font I might walk up the nave or along the parallel side aisles; towards the tabernacle, meditating at the stations of the Cross; I visit and pray in the smaller chapels, with statues and paintings of the saints, getting nurtured by all their timeless and infinite love and guidance surrounded by numerous candles and lovingly arranged flowers; I continue my pilgrimage to the tabernacle on the altar in the sanctuary (these days sometimes in the middle of the sanctuary). It is at the statue of the Mother of All, Mother of Sorrows, Mater Ecclesia, praying on my knees that I feel especially that the cathedral is a maternal house of prayer and consolation, where all are invited, being loved unconditionally and nurtured gracefully, no matter, who they are and where they are coming from. She is the living place of His Holy presence, where we are refilled with His spirit: ‘I am the Life’.
When I come to a House of Prayer, it does not really matter to me, whether the statues are high class art or Kitsch, which stylistic epochs they belong to or whether the cathedral is usually a highlight of a sightseeing tour. What matters is that they are Divinely inspired and want to touch our hearts. If I want to do a museum tour with the highest standards of art, then I visit a museum.
To me it is the essence of the cathedral as a sacred place of worhsip and prayer that draws me to it. Through many centuries it has been spiritually amplified by the holy rituals of the mass and the eucharist, the purity and devotion of a cleansed heart after prayer and/or confession, the countless intercessions for those we care about, the hymns and sacred chanting, the thanksgiving - all of which I feel and hear singing in the highest vibration around me, when I enter God’s sacred motherly dwelling place. It is not by accident that so many cathedrals have been dedicated to Holy Mary, Our Lady, Mother of Sorrows because Mary symbolizes the Church in her purity, maternity and holiness.
She is without judgment and knows only unconditional love and grace.
When I attend mass at the cathedral this feeling is multiplied as it is shared with the whole community that gathers in the peace of the Holy Spirit in a space that draws the Light of heaven down to earth. All cathedrals were conceived in celestial visions that were then built on earth by the inspired artists and architects who served God to manifest His dwelling place, in which He invites us and cares for us. That is why the cathedral continues to inspire and touch us deeply in our hearts.
©Eliora Anat, London, 2006
MAY THE INFINITE LIGHT OF OUR LORD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU ALWAYS AND GIVE YOU PEACE!
Make a free website at Freewebs.com