Today when I went to Mass, I just chose a place to sit randomly. Typically, people seem to sit in the same place every week. We like consistency. But today I only thought about sitting in a place where the sun wouldn’t be shining in my face. After a little while I looked around and noticed the large stained-glass window of St. Mother Cabrini right next to me. I smiled. Today the Catholic Church celebrated the first papal church that was constructed in Rome after Constantine ended the persecution of Christians. It is the Basilica of St. John Lateran. The Lateran family owned the land at one time which was confiscated, then passed along to Constantine. He named the church after the family. When the priest was talking about these things in his homily, he brought up a good question, which I have heard too, and which seems to be very relevant as I am seeing so many beautiful churches. The question is, “Why are Catholic churches so elaborate?” The priest acknowledged the struggle that many people have and his answer made so much sense. We know God is everywhere and people can pray to Him wherever they are. Yet, people of God construct buildings and dedicate them totally to and for God’s glory. Everything in the structure is developed to bring us closer to God. Many of the elements are from tradition that have been handed down from centuries. For example, the stained-glass windows harken back to a time when people couldn’t read. The pictures told the story of Jesus Christ. They are still great learning tools for kids. Also, the statues are not meant to be a distraction to take away from praising God, but we learn from and about them. Since we believe that there is life after death, we ask those who have gone before us to pray for us. The bottom line is that a church is a place set aside to come together to worship God. And God is present in the church in a unique way in the Eucharist. We realize our limitations just as Solomon did when he was given the task to build the temple – we cannot contain God. But, we can give the very best we have to create a space for Him. When I witness the beauty and awe-inspiring churches, it humbles me as I remember how small I am and how great God is.

I Found God today understanding more about the beauty of churches.