In the very first hour we watched, fascinated at how the Architect Brunelleschi designed and built the Dome of the Cathedral of Florence. Hundreds of years before, the Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, Justininan commissioned another architectural wonder, the Hagia Sophia, which was constructed from a series of domes, with its highest and biggest raised twenty-one feet above the others. These architectural feats show how man wanted to honour God, and wasted no time and effort in constructing magnificent, lofty, edifices where they could worship Him in His house.
Psalm 121 opens joyously:“I rejoiced when I hear them say:
‘Let us go to God’s house.’”
God’s house was therefore something awesome and grand. However, what we have learnt in the Gospel of John, is that the message is not about a particular location, it is about a relationship, an intimate relationship. Indeed, Psalm 129: 5 - 6 speaks of this intimacy:
“My soul is waiting for the Lord,
I count on his word.
My soul is longing for the Lord
more than watchman for daybreak.”
Finally, in the Canticle in Phil 2: 6 – 8, we encounter Jesus, who, above all the symbols of power, might and majesty, chose to die powerless:
“Though he was in the form of God,
Jesus did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.
He emptied himself,
taking the form of a servant,
being born in the likeness of men.
And being found in human form
He humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
Even death on a cross.”
Let us then contrast these three symbols of grandeur, intimacy and humility. Let us therefore pray that we be humble, inviting the people of God to cultivate genuine intimacy with God, so that we may give glory and honour to the Body of Christ. With these thoughts in mind, let us pray.
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Stay tuned for the next post by Br Jovita Ho on 13th Nov 2010.
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