…Heaven in stone and glass.

In this ninth video in the series, Dr. McNamara describes how a church building should be a reflection of Heaven, a foretaste of our future in Glory in the presence of God. He paraphrases an unnamed saint who said something to the effect of, “A church is an earthly Heaven, where Christ walks about with us.” But what does this look like?

A clue lies in the book of Revelation. Dr. McNamara walks us through passages in the last book of the Bible that give us hints of what our ultimate destiny looks, though in highly symbolic language. 

Here’s an interesting exercise you might want to try the next time you enter a church, whether for Mass or some other reason. Take a few minutes to look around. What comes to your mind as you take in your visual surroundings in that church? Where do your thoughts naturally go? Is it something like St. John’s great vision? Is your mind elevated to the things of God? It’s true that we are responsible for focusing our own thoughts on things above, but certainly some environments make that task easier than others.