Sacred Spaces

Holy Trinity Catholic Church*

So, let's get back to the subject of Madeleine's Christmas program for a moment.  It was approximately an hour long and included a performance by each grade, three solos and a few pieces by the school band.  It was held in the church.  While I appreciated the students' talent and especially enjoyed hearing Madeleine, it bothered me to see the kids on the risers set up in front of the altar.  Now, if the church were the only place in which to gather, I might feel differently but this parish has an FLC and several other large rooms that would have held the crowd.  Why not use one of those?

You may well ask, "What's the big deal?  Why not use the church?  It's prettier and there's no need to set up chairs.  It makes sense to meet there."  In my opinion though, our churches should be places set apart.  They should be sacred and inspire reverence.  Kids performing "Jingle Bell Rock" with their backs to the place where Jesus becomes physically present at Mass seems at the very least, inappropriate.

In their book The First 90 Days of Marriage, Eric and Leslie Ludy discuss God's "principle of sanctuary" which is to "protect and preserve that which is most important".  For them, the master bedroom is one of those spaces and they have banned television, video games, computers and work from theirs in order to create a beautiful space for their marriage to flourish.  They advise:

"As a couple, treat your bedroom as sacred space.  Don't decorate it with friends and family in mind.  Decorate your bedroom as if it will never be seen by anyone besides you and your spouse.  Treat it as a private haven, a secret alcove of intimate beauty...
For the area of your bedroom to be a truly cherished, sacred space, three things must be true about it:

*It must be completely private

*It must be clean and fresh smelling

*It must be a desirable place to be"

In terms of our worship space, we can see how Catholic ritual helps with the second two.  We have colors corresponding to the church calendar, candles, beautiful music and sweet smelling incense.  It's the first requirement of exclusivity that seems to be the most difficult.  Clearly, we want our churches to be open and welcoming but they should also be sacred sanctuaries set apart for the worship of God.  Surely if God has blessed us with enough resources to afford church halls and schools with cafeterias, we should show our appreciation by preserving the church itself as sacred space exclusively for worship of Him**.  

I cannot emphasize enough how important the principle of sanctuary is for us today.  We live in a noisy world nearly devoid of sacred space because our computers, cell phones, pagers and blackberries follow us everywhere.  So many people seem to have forgotten how to be truly present to another human being to say nothing of God.  

I encourage you to defend your own sacred time and space*** and, even if others don't appear to, to treat the church as a space set apart--a place for nice clothes, soft voices and slow footsteps.  These things are gifts we give ourselves as our holy spaces help us to become more holy people.

*This is Fr. Peffley's Parish in Bristow, VA.  The church is incredibly beautiful and, from the angels to the symbols of the Holy Trinity repeated throughout, was designed to draw thoughts heavenward.

**Some may point to the adoration chapel as the space set apart for God.  Since it is a space for private prayer rather than most communal celebrations though, it is not enough. 

***I think we can go overboard in the other direction too.  Most time is ordinary and most of the spaces in our lives are more for the joyful than the glorious mysteries.  Sacred time and space should be manageable in terms of our ability to maintain them and still be available to others.