Edifying sacred art

I can't help noticing that when I am at Mass and listening to the homily, if my attention starts to wander for whatever reason, my eyes start wandering around the church.  If the church is decorated with depictions of scenes from Scripture or the lives of the saints or representations of truths of the Faith, then my mind wanders to meditating on those things.

However, if the church is bare of ornamentation, as is typical of puritanical style in vogue among those who design Catholic churches these days, my eyes search in vain for something, and finding nothing, it is much more difficult to avoid thinking about an irrelevant topic. 

Just saying.

Comments

[Neil]

that's one of the nice things about the basillica here at Notre Dame, there's lots of nice pictures. In the entrance it says there's a book about the art in the basillica available in the museum, but every time I walk over there there's a sign just inside the door saying, "museum closed." However, I suspect they keep the museum closed sign just inside the doors I'm thinking of, and or the museum isn't actually behind the doors I'm thinking of. Every thing is done by word of mouth around here, which means I can't be lazy and wait for an announcement, read a sign or visit a website. Perhaps the finding of the museum can be an adventure.

I was rather hoping a picture of Saint Luke was Saint Cornelius because of the bull, but I think Cornelius only gets the horns. One thing I surely didn't learn much about during my time at the csc was iconography in the church.

I actually found all the art work quite distracting and didn't like going to the basillica at first, but I think having gone there enough times for non-mass events I've seen enough that it's not as difficult to pay attention to the liturgy. That's not to say I've picked up on a fraction of the nuances depicted there though. One day I'll find the museum at the end of the rainbow and get the book.

[Matt]

I completely agree. And I would go as far as to say that such guided meditation is a primary purpose of traditional religious art in our churches. I think it is generally agreed that distractions at mass or in prayer are inevitable, so why not try to capture that energy and direct it towards other also-useful meditation? What are you left to meditate on in a sparse puritanical setting, the architecture? In Memorial Chapel on campus I find myself meditating on how the lack of images is detrimental to prayer and mass being said in that space.