Narthex, part B:
Floor pattern, Chartres Cathedral, France -- 
Floor pattern, Chartres Cathedral, France --
In some very old cathedrals is a floor pattern near the entrance (in the narthex in our case) called the labyrinth. It is to the original Christian meaning we must cling, for in our wicked day the false teachers of New Ageism (every man his own god) have appropriated it for devilish ends.
Faith was never easy but love is with us; His love is in the Cathedral of our souls. Within whatever maze that besets our pilgrim's feet there is this one thing that love demands of us, this one thing that gives birth to the faith that will make us more than conquerors in Christ: look up, your redemption draweth nigh ... dare to be as large as the Cathedral soul Christ has made you by His life, death, and resurrection. (Luke 21:8)
| Until the day when all that is mysterious will be revealed let us take comfort from these words of the blessed John Henry Newman: |  |
(John Henry Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, London: Longmans, Green, 1891, PPS 4:206-8) |
Men move about in the common paths of life and look the same; but there is
little community of feeling between them; each knows little about what goes on
in any other sphere than his own; and a stranger coming into any neighborhood
would, according to his own pursuits and acquaintances, go away with an
utterly distinct or reverse impression of it, viewed as a whole. Or again,
leave for a while the political and commercial excitement of some large city
and take refuge in a secluded village; and there, in the absence of news of
the day, consider the modes of life and habits of mind, the employments and
views of its inhabitants; and say whether the world, when regarded in its
separate portions, s not more unlike itself than it is unlike the world of
angels which Scripture places in the midst of it?
The world of spirits then, though unseen, is present; present, not future, not
distant. It is not above the sky, it is not beyond the grave; it is now and
here; the kingdom of God is among us. Of this the text speaks -- "We look",
says St. Paul, "not at the things which are seen but at the things which are
not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are
not seen are eternal." You see he regarded it as practical truth, which was
to influence conduct. Not only does he speak of the world invisible but of
the duty of "looking at" it; not only does he contrast the things of time with
it but says that their belonging to time is a reason, not for looking at, but
for looking off them. Eternity was not distant because it reached to the
future, nor the unseen state without its influence on us because it was
impalpable. In like manner, he says in another Epistle, "Our conversation is
in heaven." And again, "God hath raised us up together and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." And again, "Your life is hid
in with Christ in God. " And to some purport are St. Peter's words, "Whom
having not seen, ye love; in whom though now you see Him not, yet believing,
ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." And again, in words
already quoted, he speaks of the angels as "ministering spirits sent forth to
minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation." (Phil 3:20; Eph 2:6; Col
3:3; I Pet 1:8; I Cor 4:9; Heb 1:14)
Such is the hidden kingdom of God; and, as it is now hidden, so in due season
it shall be revealed. Men think that they are lords of the world and may do
as they will. They think this earth their property and its movements in their
power; whereas it has other lords besides them and is the scene of a higher
conflict than they are capable of conceiving. It contains Christ's little ones
whom they despise and his angels whom they disbelieve; and these at length
shall take possession of it and be manifested. At present, "all things,'[to
appearances , "continue as they were from the beginning of the creation"; and
scoffers ask, "Where is the promise of His coming?", but at the appointed time
there will be a "manifestation of the sons of God", and the hidden saints
"shall shine out as the sun in the kingdom of their Father". When the angels
appeared to the shepherds it was a sudden appearance -- "Suddenly there was
with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host." How wonderful a sight! The
night had before that seemed just like any other night; as the evening in
which Jacob saw the vision seemed like any other evening. They were keeping
watch over their sheep; they were watching the night as it passed. The stars
moved on -- it was midnight. They had no idea of such a thing when the angel
appeared. Such are the power and virtue hidden in things which are not seen,
and at God's will they are manifested. There were manifested for a moment to
Jacob, for a moment to Elisha's servant, for a moment to the shepherds. They
will be manifested forever when Christ comes at the Last Day "in the glory of
His Father with the holy angels]' Then this world will fade away and the
other world will shine forth.
Let these be your thoughts, my brethren, especially in the spring season, when
the whole face of nature is so rich and beautiful. Once only in the year, yet
once, does the world which we see show forth its hidden powers and in a manner
manifest itself. Then the leaves come out, and the blossoms of the fruit
trees and flowers; and the grass and corn spring up. There is a sudden rush
and burst outwardly of the hidden life which God has lodged in the material
world. Well, that shows you, as by sample, what it can do at God's command
when He gives the word. This earth, which now buds forth in leaves and
blossoms, will one day burst forth into a new world of light and glory in
which we shall see saints and an angels dwelling. Who would think, except
from his experience of former springs all through his life, who would conceive
two or three months before, that it was possible that the face of nature,
which then seemed so lifeless, should become so splendid and varied?
Sing then with the Psalmist, though the day be long and the secret storms of life threaten to undo you:
Indeed, my Lord, who am I but one You have chosen to have mercy upon: a son, a daughter of humanity with eternity placed in my soul by Christ? Oh set me right upon life's entangled roads and let me stand upon the Rock of Ages to see what a universe You have placed inside my heart, for I am a Christian by Your mercy alone. Amen
With Edna St. Vincent Millay I can proclaim from one of my favorite poems these words amidst life's perplexities:
The world stands out on either side
No wider than the heart is wide;
Above the world is stretched the sky, --
No higher than the soul is high.
The heart can push the sea and land
Farther away on either hand;
The soul can split the sky in two,
And let the face of God shine through.
But East and West will pinch the heart
That can not keep them pushed apart;
And he whose soul is flat -- the sky
Will cave in on him by and by.
(from Renascence)
Within this day's labyrinthine maze we may ask: "Why me, Lord? Why me?" Our hearts at times must be broken that they might be enlarged and able to embrace the beauty and goodness that God the Holy Spirit brings to them ... we must be enlarged to "make room" for the eternity within us.