"They came to Philip...and asked him,
'Sir, we would like to see Jesus.'"
John 12:21
'Sir, we would like to see Jesus.'"
John 12:21
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June 12, 2016
When we break ground on our new church (keep watching for news; we’ll let you know exactly when), we will not immediately begin sticking steel beams into the ground and stacking up blocks of concrete. As everyone knows, there is an all-important part of construction that must come first: the foundation. The foundation determines the size and shape of the building, how high it can rise and in what places. For this reason, St. Paul selected it as an apt symbol of Christ, particularly in His relationship to the Church. “The Church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord,” as the hymn goes. Just as the Church builds upon Christ according to the plan He has set out, the master builder constructs according to the foundation that is laid. If he builds a skyscraper on a concrete pad made for a house, or decides to make the building a few feet wider than the foundation itself, there will be obvious problems.
According to the commission of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it. Let each man take care how he builds upon it. For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”1 Corinthians 3:10-11
Why is our foundation laid out in this way?
In the Old Testament, God revealed an intricate system by which He asked to be worshipped. This included the ordering of space in the Tabernacle and later the Temple. Briefly, this was a linear design which allowed for the meeting between God and His people as they participated in the rites God commanded (more on this later).
With the coming of Christ, that encounter is perfected Sacramentally, and in Christian church buildings, the “new temple” signifies Christ who is himself the cornerstone and foundation of the New Covenant.
“The Church building … is an architectural sign making visible the invisible; here lives the mystical body of Christ, the new, living Temple in which God dwells because He has reconciled humanity to Himself.” (Denis McNamara, Catholic Church Architecture and the Spirit of the Liturgy, 68)
Our new church is laid out in the traditional “cruciform” shape, representing the Mystical Body of Christ.