Last October my daughter and I had the privilege to go on pilgrimage to Rome, Orvieto, and Assisi. It was an amazing time of blessing. We went in many Churches and although all were immensely beautiful, the thing that strikes me now is that all of them without exception looked and felt like Churches. There is something that impacts the soul when you are in a Church that was built for the glory and honor of our Lord…a Church that spares no expense to give the best of what human beings can offer to God. Sacred space somehow transforms your heart and lifts your soul into the realms of heaven. Certainly, the Lord’s real and actual presence in the Eucharist touches us most deeply, but when Church architecture, sacred art, and furnishings draw the attention of the soul to God, the beauty of the details can melt one’s heart. God is beauty and when He is surrounded by the reflection of His beauty…Wow!
More recently, I saw a news story about a Church out East which was being transported brick by brick down south to Georgia. Why would anyone take the trouble? Wouldn’t it be cheaper to build a new Church? This particular Church is a replica of one that is in Rome and is very beautiful and I think the people involved in Georgia recognize the treasure that it is. To be honest, when we look around the United States today, there are very few Churches left that actually look and feel like Churches. So many of them feel empty of all devotion and are more like meeting halls or banquet rooms than the house of the Lord. There was a book entitled Ugly as Sin by Michael Rose written a few years ago that addressed this topic and I think one of his points was how a lack of beauty in Church and putting Jesus off to the side and out of sight leads people to a lack of faith in the Real Presence and a lukewarmness of soul. The emphasis eventually becomes about ME instead of God. There is much to reflect on about why this has come about in our country and what it means, but it would take many more posts to delve into the topic. Besides, I believe there are quite a few books that tackle this very subject. I would like instead to reflect on my own parish and the plans to make our sanctuary more beautiful….to make our Church more beautiful for God.
I belong to a Catholic parish that sits right in the center of Central Michigan University. How amazing it is to have Jesus, the Bread of Life, right at the center of a secular school of higher learning that often directly promotes a Culture of Death. What is most amazing about our parish is that it is essentially a campus parish run by students under the energetic leadership of our pastor. It is their parish. The students are musicians, lectors, Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, sacristans, altar servers and organizers of many events. They are involved in bible studies, organizing and leading rosaries, Eucharistic Adoration, Vigils, purity groups, vocation discernment groups, college fellowship nights, pro-life groups and on and on. There are tremendous blessings occurring every single day at our parish and vocations are flourishing. I give thanks every day for the gift of belonging to such a vibrant faith community. Our parish is most of all a place of prayer and worship. The Sacrifice of the Mass stands of the center of all that happens there. Jesus is our focus which is why blessings continue to fall upon us left and right.
One of our blessings is that we are going to remodel our parish and give Jesus a new home at the front and center of our Church where He will be the main focus and will be seen by everybody. We will make His home more beautiful so hearts can be drawn right into His own beauty and be filled with the peace that only He can give. And how much we need His peace in these days! Many of the students at our parish stop in and out of the Church throughout the day to find a moment of silence and peace in the Lord’s presence. There is so much noise in the culture and in college life in general and it is a great blessing to be able to come and rest in Jesus and recharge the soul batteries and be filled with His love so that one can take it back out into the noise and share it with others. It is so important that our parish always remain as a haven for the young church and a defender of truth in the midst of a sea of relativism.
If there is a criticism at all about our parish it is that not enough students are involved and contributing to the maintenance of the parish. Our collection reports are pitiful…once it was less than 200 dollars! I don’t think it is a lack of generosity as much as oversight. I’m sure not many know that our parish is subsidized completely by the diocese and, so far, we stay open only because our bishop realizes the future of the church is right here. I will never buy the fact that students are too poor to put something in for God; I have yet to meet a student who doesn’t: own an iPod they could sell, go out for beer and pizza they could give up, or buy all kinds of college gear that they could do without. I truly think they are not aware that there is a real need here…that the parish doesn’t run itself and that God isn’t dropping hundred dollar bills in the parking lot every weekend. Maybe they don’t realize that THEY are the stewards of the parish. Perhaps they don’t yet trust that God is good and will provide for them or maybe they are infected with a sense of entitlement that is so prevalent in our society today. Perhaps it is just ignorance. Whatever the reason, God is looking for generous hearts…it is our hearts that He wants most of all. And He wants ALL of our hearts and not just a piece of them like a tithe. He wants us to be willing to give all and when we get over our fear and offer Him our all….oh, what blessings He will cover us with. Jesus loved the poor and it is us poor sinners that He loves the most. How He praised the poor widow who put in her whole livelihood. He called poor fishermen who were uneducated to lead His Church…poor, but generous because they immediately dropped their nets and followed Him. Would that we will all do the same! It sounds radical and irresponsible to the ears of our contemporary “practical” culture, but living a truly Christian life IS radical. It is only irresponsible if we think God is powerless, but He is not! He is Almighty and can be trusted with everything including our lives and treasure. He is our real treasure!
Often the image of poor immigrants in our country comes to my mind when I think of the situation of our parish. People from all over came here and had nothing, but they raised money to build glorious churches for God and for their communities. How did they do it? Why did they sacrifice and make it a priority in their lives? Because building something beautiful for God is always blessed. God will never be outdone in generosity. Our students come from all over, too, and have a chance to be a part of something beautiful, something that takes work and sacrifice and is lasting. Truly if we only realized what graces He is ready to give us, we wouldn’t think twice about giving all we have. Perhaps one has a 20 dollar bill and a 1 dollar bill when the collection passes by…how many will put in the 20 over the 1? God wants our hearts to be willing to give it all. He wants our treasure and our labors and most of all our love…they are all His gifts to us. He will guide us in prayer about how much to give or contribute, but it is important to talk to Him about these things. Make a holy hour every day and ask Him what He wants you to do for your parish….for Him? Ask Him what He needs from you that only you can give to Him. Ask Him what makes Him happy. Tell Him you love Him and try to mean it more every time. Show Him. Ask Him to put strong desires on your heart to lead you. Open the scriptures and let Him talk to you. Ask Him to show you all that He has given to you. When you are able to see how much you owe Him, there will be nothing that will stop you from trying to give back to goodness Himself. It takes one student reading this to do something beautiful for God and for that something to cause a ripple effect to touch many, many lives. The possibilities are endless. Ask yourself when the last time was that you donated time or flowers or candles or wine for Mass. When was the last time you offered to help with the garden and lawn, or shovel snow, or other tasks? When was the last time you raised money or sacrificed a meal for the good of the parish community? Have you asked the office to sign you up for envelopes so you can contribute regularly? Our parish needs funds for this modest renovation project, to be financially independent and free from worry about closing, money for operating and upkeep etc., and our students (and the rest of us too!) need to learn how blessed it is to give of time, treasure, and talent…to belong to a noble family whose head is Christ Himself. We ALL need to do something beautiful for God because He is God and we owe Him everything as He has given us the greatest gift of all…Himself! Oh, let us build something beautiful for God and for our universal Church. It will be something that will last and when students go on to graduate from here, they can still contribute and do something beautiful for God by seeing that the Church in the middle of the campus where they once found a much needed moment of peace remains open until He comes again. It will be a place for their children to come and have a safe haven full of truth, goodness and beauty. If anyone besides my mom reads this blog post and would like to help build something beautiful for God, please send donations to St. Mary’s University Parish, 1405 S. Washington St., Mt. Pleasant, MI 48858, Attn. Renovation Fund. We can use many prayers too! Be generous, for where your treasure is there also is your heart. May God Bless you as He has blessed me!
My Lord, thank you for all the many gifts you give to me. You have given me such a blessed existence. I am made for you and I love you. You give me life and peace and joy and so many good gifts. The greatest gifts are the ones I don’t always recognize…those crosses that make me more like you. Oh, but I see you are always helping me to carry them as you lead me along paths that are new and unknown. Lord, we are going to give you a new home in your Church. We have taken the step and we are trusting in you to send the money we will need to accomplish it. Inspire our hearts to be generous to you and to give you more room in every aspect of our lives. Your presence is so important to the world. Without you living in so many tabernacles and in the hearts of your faithful, the world would end. Your love is particularly needed in the souls of young people. How bombarded they are with cynicism and attacks against you and your bride the Church…against the truth of your life. So many young people are not even aware of the dignity they possess in being made in your image and likeness. How sad it must make you yet you have many friends in the young men and women of today. They want to do the right thing. They are starving as we all are for hope for our world. And you are the answer. You are our Hope and our Peace and our Truth too. And you are Beauty. I want to see you surrounded with beauty always…surrounded with friends who love you and spend time with you and let you love them. I adore you, Jesus. I’m so excited about this project which will take you out of the corner and put you back into the center of the Church. I pray that everyone will come to see and know you and give you the respect and reverence you deserve. So many seem unaware of your presence in the Church and I ask you to give them grace to know of the wonders of your love. You are so lovable and tender. You are the answer to every problem and the Key to the Kingdom. Bring us all into you, Lord…that we may all be one. I ask for your grace to descend upon our parish and all the students. Help them to be generous and thoughtful to you…to be kind to you in all sorts of ways. And I beg for the help of the poor widow in the gospel to help me be more generous. May she obtain for me the grace never to complain about anything in my life for that shows you such a lack of gratitude. Help me, my King, to trust always in your goodness and providence in my life and in the lives of us all. Amen.
Recommended Reading:
- Architecture in Communion: Implementing the Second Vatican Council Through Liturgy and Architecture by Steven J. Schloeder
- No Place for God: The Denial of Transcendence in Modern Church Architecture by Moyra Doorly
