There are a few other features that you might want to touch upon. These are not symbols so much but they would be very helpful for people to know about. Take the Stations of the Cross. Most people think the stations are pictures around a Catholic Church marking the Passion of Christ. They are not. They are fourteen wooden cross to which pictures may be attached. The indulgence is attached to the wooden crosses not the pictures. If your church was consecrated you should have a number of crosses on the walls of your church. The number may vary but usually it is twelve. Most people think that the candles are that which are important. They are not. The important part is the cross, painted, sculpted, or hung, in front of which a candle may be placed. These are the spots where the bishop consecrated the building with holy oil.
Others may benefit from seemingly ordinary things being explained. What do all the markings on the Paschal candle mean? Is there heraldry in your parish? Why is it there (there are old posts on AA to help explain this) and what do they mean? How about relics? What about the relics in (or under) yor altar? What do you see – that perhaps you don’t see in Protestant Churches – that you never thought to wonder why it is there?
Here’s something that came up since I wrote to you last week. Remember the comment about the twelve pillars and how most parishes that have pillars tend to have 12? Well, I was at a church this past week that I believe was built in 1929 that only had four pillars. Upon closer inspection the tops of the pillars were decorated with symbols of the four Evangelists. The pillars, then, represented the four Gospels upon which the Church is built. Pretty cool! I hope you discover cool things about your parish.
No comments:
Post a Comment