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Date this page was last updated 28 Sep 2007
Special thanks to Brian Exner, Mike McMahon, Linus Lalor, Dave Opahle, Al Lechner, Mark Stuhr, and the Buildings and Grounds Committee for their fine work.
Windows
Above Doors
We hope you find this explanation helpful as you lift your eyes regularly to enjoy truth through beauty. However, as you lift your eyes, don’t miss the steps!! |
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Our Steeple Renovation Project has
been successfully completed – the clock now has hands that read the correct
and same time on all four faces and all three bells now ring again at
their appointed times, beginning by pealing a call to worship five minutes
before each scheduled Mass on both weekends and weekdays, chiming the Angelus at
Noon and 6:00PM and announcing the hour and half hour daily from 8AM – 8PM (we
conclude our church "heavy metal" music two hours earlier than in the
past out of consideration to our neighbors).
The South window, to which the
full significance of the others is keyed, symbolizes God’s Word.
At the top, together, are the sun and moon, created lights, and, over a
book of Sacred Scripture, a torch/lamp, recalling the words of Psalm
119:105 – "A lamp to my feet is your word, a light to my
path." The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures as she
venerated the Body of the Lord: both nourish and govern the whole
Christian life. The etched words of the open book are in Hebrew that we
might remember God’s promises to Abraham and his descendants in faith as
the foundation of ours, the purple base recalling the most significant of
all God’s promises, that of sending us the Messiah, a Savior, descended
from King David. The window representing God’s Word is above the
south door to remind us of the Queen of the South who once came to Solomon
for wisdom, encouraging us to take the wisdom of God’s Word beyond these
walls and apply it to every experience of daily life, wherever our duties,
talents or professions may take us.
The center window depicting the
Holy Trinity continues the motif of the sun and moon near a hand
symbolizing God the Father, the Creator Who first said "Let there be
light" and so it was. The lamb at rest on a sacred book (the
Christian Scriptures) symbolizes Jesus, proclaimed by His Precursor and
cousin, John the Baptist, as the Lamb of God, the Christ, who would take
away the sins of the world. His presence with His church always is
represented by the seven ribbons at the book’s edge, standing for the
sacraments He instituted. The dove, of course, represents the power of the
Holy Spirit whose grace intervenes lovingly for the guidance of the Church
throughout history, and the blue base reminds us of Mary, the Mother of
God, whose cooperation with the Father’s will and the Holy Spirit’s
overshadowing gave birth to God with us in flesh and time, Jesus
Christ. The window representing the Holy Trinity is above the
center door as this is the doctrine central to our faith.
The north window is
specifically dedicated to the premiere means there is of truly
experiencing the Real Presence of Christ, the Eucharist, the
Sacrament of His Body and Blood, symbolized by grapes & wheat, chalice
and host. The sun and moon continue to remind us that Christ within brings
wisdom and enlightenment, the repeated purple base reminding all who
receive Him that we are His People, "Priestly People, Kingly People,
Holy People, God’s Chosen People," called to sing His praises both
in worship and in lives of generous service to our fellows. The window
representing the Eucharist is above the north door to remind us of
the description of Christ in the Creed - as we leave our church we
remember "He is seated at the right hand of the Father" and will
come again to judge the living and dead.
