Entering into the Cathedral is like entering the Heart of God

 

Entering into the Newark Cathedral is like entering the Heart of God

Reflection for the Feast of the Dedication of the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Newark

By Fr. Maximilian Buonocore, OSB

Walking into the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark is like walking into the Bible. Catholic and Orthodox churches, in general, are like this. Orthodox churches are especially like a picture Bible. You can learn so much about the historical events and prophetic revelations of the Bible by reading the icons which completely surround you. In most Catholic churches it is quite similar: you have paintings, statues, mosaics, freises, Stained-glass windows, etc. which teach about the mysteries expounded in the Scriptures. The Bible mysteries are made present as these images stir up the physical imagination, which is the first step in stirring up the supernatural imagination. Word and sacrament are key means that the Holy Spirit uses to activate the image and likeness of God in us, and what better space for that to happen than in the Newark cathedral basilica, with all its sacramentals, which include not only the sacramental art and architecture that help to make the Biblical mysteries present, but also the angelic choir and grand organ that help us worship and praise the Lord in the presence of the angels and saints.

Any church, especially the Cathedral, is a place where Catholics can feel the same sense of holy fear as Jacob did, and say with him, “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it! . . .How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” The presence of the Blessed Sacrament gives it a place and presence and encounter with the Lord. Catholics are taught from an early age that the Lord is especially present in the church. We are taught to dip our fingers into the holy water font as we walk in to sign ourselves as a sign by which we acknowledge that we recognized that the Lord is present. We bow and/or genuflect as we enter our pew. We may go to light a candle and make a visit to the tabernacle.

For most protestant and non denominational Christians the church is merely a meeting or assembly place for worship services. They take seriously, as we do, the words of Jesus, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst.” For them, the church becomes a place of presence and encounter with the Lord when people gather there in his name, to proclaim the Word and worship in song and prayer. The non denominational Christian, if they go into the church space alone to pray, it is for the quiet, not, I believe, because they believe that there is something about that space which makes it a space where God is present in a special way, different than the manner that he would be present in any other space where that person may be by him or herself praying. This is not so for Catholics. Early in the history of the Catholic Church, especially because of the belief in the real and continued presence of Christ in the consecrated hosts, the space in which the Blessed Sacrament is reserved, is regarded by Catholics as a space of real and special presence of the Lord, different from the ordinary way that he is present elsewhere. That is why Catholics have always endeavored to construct and fill the spaces for worship and sacramental rites, especially churches, where the Blessed Sacrament is perpetually present, with grand art and architecture in order to convey a sense of being in the presence of the supernatural; in order to convey a sense of being in the place where heaven descends? When I was a child, our pastor at St. Lucy’s Church, Fr. Thomas Ritucci, would often say to us altar servers that the church is a place where we are in the presence of the communion of saints and angels in a special way, and where heaven descends in the celebration of the sacrifice of the mass. I would always think about this as I served at mass, always imagining throngs of saints and angels present, and heaven descending, especially at the time of the consecration of the sacred species into the Body and Blood of Christ. This childhood excitement revives in me when I am in the Newark Cathedral. That childhood awe at imagining myself in the presence of angels and saints is facilitated in a special way as I look up at the clerestory stained glass windows with the glowing, even ethereal, images of angels and saints above. Sometimes, as I gaze at the rose windows, as they glow brightly with the bright sunlight, I imagine myself like Moses in the presence of the burning bush. This is exactly what a church is meant to do. This is what the Newark Cathedral does. And it is quite apropos that it is named for the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is in the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus that we become true children of our heavenly Father. The Cathedral church models the Church which is the Body of Christ, within which beats the heart of the Creator, beating through the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Cathedral Church serves as a sacramental sign of our entry into the very heart of Jesus - of the very heart of God. So, in addition to likening the entering into the Cathedral Church to an entering into the Bible, I think we can also liken our entry into the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart to an entering into the heart of God.

All for Jesus,

Fr. Max