By Dominic Redcliffe

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Hello from home – not Rome! 

This month’s Pastoral Ponderings are from home. I’ve been at home for a short time now and I’ve had the chance to see family and friends, along with familiar places, which is wonderful. 

When I am back in the archdiocese, people do ask me whether I prefer to be back in Italy because of the different opportunities that I might have there as part of my formation. However, after being in my home parish church and in a couple of other churches I like to visit, I have realised that our own archdiocese has churches of great beauty – as well as the ones in Italy. 

Sitting in church recently on a sunny day during Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, I noticed how the sunlight illuminated the stained glass vividly. Images of Jesus, Our Lady, and different saints were so colourful despite well over a hundred years of sunshine upon them. 

Whether we visit a church built in the 19th century or from more recent times, the imagery that furnishes it is not simply decorative. This year at seminary, I learned about how images or icons gradually became part of Christian places of worship. 

By the sixth century, mosaics and icons were valued as great pieces of Christian art. During the seventh and eighth centuries though, a dispute developed within the Eastern, or Byzantine, Church, which rejected icons due to theological reasons. One reason was a belief that the art, whether it be a mosaic, in wood or stone, was being venerated rather than God the Father, Christ, or Our Lady. 

In defence of images, St John of Damascus in the eighth century wrote in great depth with the idea that the material used to create the image brings us closer to God. The images in a church remind us that the mystery of God’s presence and Word became flesh through the birth of his Son. 

St John wrote: “In former times, God, who is without body or form, could not be depicted at all. But now, since God has appeared in the flesh and lived among human beings, I can now depict what is visible of God.” 

I often feel that spending time looking at a piece of church art helps me pray – especially when what I want to tell God might seem hard to put into words. It might help you too. 

Enjoy the summer and with my prayers,
Dominic