The Sacred Heart and Church Architecture

A stray thought this afternoon, while reading 1 Kings (the book of Solomon’s ascension to the throne after King David in 962 BC).  It’s not any sort of profound secret – maybe everybody knows this already and I’m just late to the party – but I’ve never heard or read it anywhere else, so I wanted to jot it down for you.

1 Kings Chapter 6 contains a detailed account of Solomon’s temple; here is an artist’s rendering that I found on this website (right-click, View Image for the full resolution):

solomon-temple

Note the separation between the nave and the inner sanctuary.  Behind those gold doors lay the Holiest of Holies; the Ark of the Covenant, God’s promise to protect the people of Israel so long as they obeyed His Law, written by Him on the tablets handed to Moses.  That which the inner sanctuary housed was too sacred – too vulnerable – to be left out in the open.

Now consider the layout of a Christian Church:

catholic-church

The altar at the front of the Church is to the new covenant, as the Ark was to the old covenant.  It is the sacred symbol of God’s promise to us, raised up above the floor of the Church, but exposed; neither golden doors nor velvet drapes protect it from the profane world.  It is there, naked and vulnerable, for all of us to see and adore.

Now consider the Sacred Heart of Jesus:

sacre-coeur

That picture – what it represents – is so beautiful that it hurts.

Christ has made himself vulnerable to us, exposed the very core of his being to us, revealed all and given all for us, in an act of incredible, painful love.

The architecture of churches is just another reflection of this.

 

Leo M.J. Aurini

Trained as a Historian at McMaster University, and as an Infantry soldier in the Canadian Forces, I'm a Scholar, Author, Film Maker, and a God fearing Catholic, who loves women for their illogical nature.

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4 Responses

  1. hey whats new? Been a long time since we talked, how’s everything been? It is awesome seeing how much the alt right is taking off.

  2. Jake says:

    This is good – I sort of knew it but it’s a good reminder!

  3. jefaus06 says:

    One of the enduring images of Jesus, was him ejecting the money changers from the Outer Annexes of Herod’s Temple. This part of the Temple Complex was where the foreign converts to Judaism were allowed to worship. Even then Jesus was setting the tone for the Church he wanted to grow. He wanted it to be a place where the Gentiles were welcome, and he wanted it to be a place free of the effects of money. With Jesus’s crucifixion, and the tearing of the veil that hid the Holy of Holies, God signalled to the world that he no longer resided in the Inner Sanctum of the Jewish Temple, but now resides in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is the Heart that all Christians must share, as it is the True Temple of Worship to God.

  4. better class of human says:

    Jesus is cool.
    What do you think of Doc Testosterone? Would you recommend his YouTube channel? Thanks, man.

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