Sunday, November 29, 2009

Sacred Sunday: A Universal Call to Holiness

There is a beautiful statuary in our church called "A Universal Call to Holiness". It is a very symbolic work of art. I would like to share with you what these symbols represent. This call to holiness can also be symbolic of our preparations during the season of Advent, where we prepare ourselves in patient waiting for the coming of our Lord. 





The Madonna offers her Son, the Savior of the World, to all people. She presents Him to us for us to listen and follow in His example. She makes the ultimate sacrifice by giving up her only Child to the world so that we may ourselves live for our eternal salvation. We listen to His Word in the Gospel and then we apply the Gospel message in all we do everyday. The Child Jesus is dressed with a stole around His neck, identifying Him as the High Priest who makes the ultimate sacrifice of His life for our salvation so that we may live for all eternity with Him.


The Angel with the Horn calls us to Holiness through Service. We are reminded that in our work, play and all we do, we are to serve the Lord and one another. Our gifts are not for us to use for our personal gain but rather they are to be used in service to the Lord and our sisters and brothers in the world. We must continue to serve those who have less than us: the poor, the oppressed, the physically handicapped, and the unfortunate.


The Angel holding the Chalice calls us to Holiness through Sacrifice. Sacrifice is a form of prayer. Our daily sufferings and tribulations that we face, whether we are young or old, deprived, sick or suffering with a disappointment, can all be prayers to bring us to holiness. We offer any and all difficulties that we face as a sacrifice to God. It is a continual reminder of how our Lord made the ultimate sacrifice. So too, we offer our daily sacrifices to our God, and in so doing, we discover the joy of knowing Him better.


The Angel holding the Crown calls us to Holiness through Praise and Evangelization. It is important to maintain a prayerful life every day to get us closer to our Faith and to our God. Using this Faith, we then are able to spread the Good News to those who have not heard the Word or have fallen away from God. As others have offered and taught us the Faith, so too we must continue this tradition and spread the Faith to all throughout the world that Jesus is our Lord and Savior.


The Angel Praying calls us to Holiness through Faith and Hope. We must continue to remember that we want to get closer to the Lord so that one day we will be able to share eternally with Him and the Saints. It is our Hope that we live our life like Christ which will lead us to Eternal Life. A continued Faith in the Church and its teachings will help us, and then, empowered by this gift, we are able to have the Hope to endure.


7 comments:

Betty Manousos said...

Polly,what a wonderful statuary!
Tkanks for enriching my day.
What a great start for the day!
Have a blissful Sunday!!
Lots of love and
hugshugs

MJ said...

Thank you for this. It was wonderfully uplifting and enlightening. I am on a Spiritual journey and this provided so much insight. Thank you again!
Have a blessed Sunday!
XO
MJ

Julie Kwiatkowski Schuler said...

I adore a thoughtful, theological post. I will admit to you that I got into a Facebook quarrel with a former classmate who posted in her Thanksgiving message that she was happy to be enjoying her beautiful house and went on about how she was privileged and not everyone deserved all the great stuff she had. So I called her on it. What kind of horse's ass comes on the internet on a day of humility and gratitude and tells poor, underprivileged people they can suck on it? She is one of the ones that is always posting things full of hallelujahs and amens, a total hypocrite! Why did she not just wish that everyone could enjoy a part of the blessings that she enjoyed? That would have been the diplomatic thing to do.

Thank you, mother confessor, for letting me get that off my chest!

Jephy's Mom said...

The Mennonite Church, to which I belong has a history of being wary of religious symbols. I think it goes back to the reformation when many churches were breaking away from the Catholic church. It was one more way to for churches to differentiate themselves from each other. As a result, Mennonite Churches are very plain.

However, symbols speak to human beings. And the arts add another dimension of meaning and learning to our worship, I think as time has passed, views have changed. And people can appreciate the value of art in worship. And like almost anything else, it can be used for good or bad.

Thank you for sharing your angles. They are a beautiful representation of the message of the Gospel.

Willoughby said...

What a beautiful and meaningful work of art.

Raoulysgirl said...

How beautiful!

I am always in awe of the works of art in churches. They are always so beautiful and moving. I also love the stories that go along with them!!!

gayle said...

Thank you for sharing this beautiful piece!!

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