SYMBOLIC SATURDAY - SIMPLY A DOOR ABLE

Doors play a strong symbolic role in the life of a Christian. It is symbolic of the entrance to the gates of heaven to which Peter had been given the keys. Often you will notice that the front doors of cathedrals are as ornate as the high altar, well, at least they were, as their symbolic use reminded those going to mass that they were entering into God’s house. Pictured here is the ornamentation over the door at a shrine in Barcelona.

There is also the tradition of the Jubilee Year and the opening of the door at St. Peter’s in Rome. For more information look here.

But even still more interesting are the doors in the place where you live. Dr. Paul Daum who was one of my professors when I was in school to study set design told the story of a set he had designed for which he received a lot of criticism. The play involved a Jewish family living in a Jewish town. “Notice the doors,” he told us. “You would never see these doors in a building built to accommodate people of the Jewish faith.”

The doors did not look any different than any doors that I had ever seen, but then he explained the symbolism to us. According to him, the long board down the center and the narrower cross board represents the cross of our Lord. The lower cross board with is much wider than the others is an open Bible.

Even if it is not true, it should be.

A second common door in the places we live is called a “witch’s door”. Many aluminum storm doors have this shape to them. The bottom half of the door has an “X” through it. This is Saint Andrew’s cross. At one time St. Andrew was depended upon to protect people from witches. His cross was a marker of his presence and intercession where people who wanted nothing to do with witches lived.