Friday, July 06, 2012

7 Quick Takes 06JUL2012

  1.  Independence Day is different now that I live in the east and in one of the original 13 colonies. I've been living here for about two years and the Revolutionary War is more real to me here. Its no longer something that happened a long time ago, in a land far, far away like when I lived in the Northwest and Alaska. There were two battles from that war fought here downtown and the surrounding area is littered with battlefields from the time. Downtown there's also the Founders Monument with two or maybe three of the signers of the Declaration of Independence buried there.
  2. Its summer which means its the season for ordinations. I went to the ordination of Father Jason Adams for the Diocese of Savannah this last Saturday.
  3. Speaking of that trip to Savannah, I love going to cathedrals and one the reasons is that they are among the few Catholic churches left in the US with the old, beautiful artwork. Going to the local parish one almost think you walked into a Baptist church by mistake, because it is so denuded of the sacred art that used to be so prevalent.
  4. The altar at St John the Baptist Cathedral in Savannah is surrounded a series of blue square with images symbolizing events from the Last Supper to the Resurrection. I love the unwritten language of sacred art. The images weren't depictions of the events but rather symbols of what happened, like a chalice with a cross emerging from it, spears and a cage, a moneybag and a pillar with crossed whips.
  5. As you face the main altar, just to the right is a small chapel dedicated to Mary. On the archway leading into the chapel were images on the left and right. The right side has a flowering plant and the word Maria. Opposite of that on the right side was a flowering bush ablaze, to symbolize the burning bush as a prefiguring of Mary.
  6. On the inside of an archway along the nave was another of these beautiful pictures that you wouldn't notice at first. It was a crown with lines connecting it with 11 flames. The highest of these flames rested upon a crossed set of keys to show Peter and his successor as first among the Apostles. I wish I had brought a camera and could show pictures.
  7. The Lord is God and has appeared to us. Blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the Lord.
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1 comment:

kkollwitz said...

Being a South Carolinian, both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars are very much around me. As Faulkner said, "The past is never dead. It's not even past."