The Dove in the Desert
Going to Mass at San Xavier near Tucson, Arizona, USA.
It was a long time coming--I've lived here for years and never gone to Mass at this beautiful place. My wife's side of the family was with us. The interior is spectacular not because it is old but because it is otherworldly. The photos are my own from my cell phone.
It is the architecture of the Vision: what one understood about the universe when the world was what we now call primitive. It is a story of the world that has not changed. We have. It is a paradigm of absolute monarchy in a country that became a democracy. (The structure pre-dates the USA and perhaps will outlast it, who knows?)
The Queen of Heaven reigns and adores her Son: King of the Ages and this narration does not stutter as it passes to each new generation. Into the swirling cloudy hogwash or moral realtivism it answers Pilates question: "What is truth?" The woman clothed with the sun (Revelation 12) who points humbly to her son--Really present...the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. (Revelation 13:8)
What strikes me as somewhat "odd" is the Church's modern liturgy in this ancient space.
Christ in the Eucharist was presented with reverence and since it is received by the person with faith it must be seen in that light, i.e. (as once said by a New Age writer who was on to something) you will "see it when you believe it."
How I wish that the priest faced the altar and that the Mass was sung. I do not intend to critique the choir but there are enough echoes of the past in this place. How I wish that one of the greatest treasurers of the Catholic Church: it's glorious music was also preserved and restored and displayed in this spectacular place. Why must the great music of the church be mothballed or only typically performed in a secular concert hall? It is difficult to try to improve upon the glory of the past and that is one of the lesson's from the Dove in the Desert.
It was a long time coming--I've lived here for years and never gone to Mass at this beautiful place. My wife's side of the family was with us. The interior is spectacular not because it is old but because it is otherworldly. The photos are my own from my cell phone.
It is the architecture of the Vision: what one understood about the universe when the world was what we now call primitive. It is a story of the world that has not changed. We have. It is a paradigm of absolute monarchy in a country that became a democracy. (The structure pre-dates the USA and perhaps will outlast it, who knows?)
The Queen of Heaven reigns and adores her Son: King of the Ages and this narration does not stutter as it passes to each new generation. Into the swirling cloudy hogwash or moral realtivism it answers Pilates question: "What is truth?" The woman clothed with the sun (Revelation 12) who points humbly to her son--Really present...the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. (Revelation 13:8)
What strikes me as somewhat "odd" is the Church's modern liturgy in this ancient space.
Christ in the Eucharist was presented with reverence and since it is received by the person with faith it must be seen in that light, i.e. (as once said by a New Age writer who was on to something) you will "see it when you believe it."
How I wish that the priest faced the altar and that the Mass was sung. I do not intend to critique the choir but there are enough echoes of the past in this place. How I wish that one of the greatest treasurers of the Catholic Church: it's glorious music was also preserved and restored and displayed in this spectacular place. Why must the great music of the church be mothballed or only typically performed in a secular concert hall? It is difficult to try to improve upon the glory of the past and that is one of the lesson's from the Dove in the Desert.
posted by wdc at 1:29 PM
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