From heat and noise to a quiet sanctuary

The widest drought to hit the United States in decades is worsening with no signs of abating, according to news reports last week. Last Tuesday, precautions were issued with heat advisories as temperatures hit 103 to 107 degrees Fahrenheit. When I stepped out of my daughter’s house for a while here in Mansfield, Texas, to test the heat, I understood what the advisories meant about  sizzling heat, not to overlook the dangers of ultraviolet ray exposure. Thankfully, there is air conditioning in homes, offices, malls and vehicles, among others elsewhere. I do not remember it being this hot and dry in our humid Philippines.

This rising heat is also evident in the American political scene as last Sunday in the Texas paper Star-Telegram, Dick Collier’s Cartoon showed two candidates pointing at each other, spewing flaming campaign rhetoric at each other, while a cowering voter under and between them is cautioned by a small creature advising, “Vote for the one that spits the least while ranting,” certainly “a far cry from the ask-not-what-your-community-can-do-for-you days”! Look and sound familiar on our own Philippine election scene?

Meanwhile, the survivors, as well as families and relatives of the terrible Colorado theater massacre, continue to share their heartrending experiences and losses through the media, seeking solace in coming face-to-face with their tragic trauma and loss.

Then in an overwhelming turn of events, the media reported that pomp and spectacle marked the opening of the London Olympic games by Queen Elizabeth II “with a little humor and a lot of fireworks” as headlined in last Saturday’s Star-Telegram. It opened with a filmed skit of the Queen, played by a “queenly-clad” stun double, parachuting down to the Olympic stadium for the opening ceremony. Director Danny Boyle’s ceremonial opening travelled through London’s last 200 years with music, then with the parade of nations, ending with that of the host team of Great Britain.

The traditional Olympic torch, passed from a series of torchbearers, one having passed on at Buckingham Palace, then entered the stadium and passed it on to seven teen-agers who pressed their torches to the copper petals which ascended to form the Olympic cauldron. Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II then declared the games open. A truly royal British opening!

Thanks to media (for this Bystander, the Star-Telegram based in Fort Worth, Texas, and TV, particularly NBC with its extensive coverage), I am kept informed. They were my references for the opening last Friday, and the days following as I wrote this.

I missed the TV coverage of the pening of the Olympic games Friday last week because my daughter Amelia and I set out in a rented car with a driver  for an 11-hour drive to visit the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament at Hanceville, Alabama, and the Catholic Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) station and chapel at Irondale, also in Alabama.

EWTN is the world’s largest media empire and now reaches over a hundred million viewers in countries around the world, including the Philippines where, in Cebu, I view the daily Mass, mornings for Mass the day before, and evenings for the Mass of the day, due to the time difference between the Philippines and the States.

The Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery is situated in an enclosed 19 acres behind the Monastery of the cloistered nuns. From the parking lot, we walked a considerable distance over cobble-stones covering the wide expanse of the piazza around the Shrine. In the center of the piazza stood a life-sized statue of the Child Jesus.

The shrine and monastery have a Romanesque-Gothic design, beside which stands the 110-foot bell tower or campanile. Leading up to the temple are balustraded seven steps symbolic of the Seven Sacraments of the Church. Of four exterior entrances to the Temple, the two central great doors are used only on major solemnities, while the north and south doors are used. On the pinnacle of the temple stands a Tau Cross, which, in the form of the Greek letter “T”, symbolizes spiritual renewal in the Church.

In the interior of the chapel, high above the marble floor, stands a nearly eight-foot monstrance where is exposed the Sacred Host. The remaining Hosts are reserved in the tabernacle behind the main altar. Behind the sanctuary is a 24-carat gold-leafed wall known as the reredo.

The main high altar sits atop three marble steps in the center of the sanctuary, with an altar rail stretching across the length of the sanctuary. The rail sets the sanctuary as a place set apart, and is an extension of the main altar. The nuns’ Mass choir is found south of the sanctuary behind a brass enclosure grille.

The beautiful custom-made stained glass windows are a source of meditation and inspiration. To the left of the sanctuary is the devotional altar dedicated to Our Lady of Grace, while to the right is the devotional altar dedicated to the Divine Child Jesus.

To each side of the chapel stand four hand-carved wooden confessionals. While mounted on the wall near the entrance, are marble holy water fonts. One of the most distinctive features of the shrine is its marble paving pattern and accents.

The reception room of the monastery is for those who come to visit the Shrine to stay awhile in Saint Joseph’s room across the reception desk. While at the far end of the public area is the enclosure door separating the cloisters from the public areas.

In an upper room was a special exhibit of the Holy Shroud of Turin, life-sized photographs of the Shroud believed to have been used to wrap the body of the dead Christ, the original photograph and its clarifying negative in black and white, as well as the three crucifixion nails, the crown of thorns and a pair of spike-ended rope lashes used on Christ on His Way to the Cross. I remember visiting the original exhibit years ago in a visit to Turin in Italy while there on a special International Labor Organization training grant on labor.

From the Shrine we drove off to the EWTN chapel, which I shall continue to report on next week.

Till then, as always, may God continue to bless us, one and all!