Signs and Symbols
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Here are a few images and descriptions from around our church interior.
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The Baldacchino
This image is a familiar part of our church but from a very different perspective. Next time you're in church, look above the altar and you'll see the side of the baldacchino. From this perspective, you can clearly see three symbols of our Catholic faith:
1. The Eye of God, which, when surrounded by the triangle, is a symbol of the Trinity with the eye representing God's omnipresence;
2. The Cross, the primary symbol of our faith which represents the Son;
3. The Dove, which represents the Holy Spirit and is a symbol repeatedly present in our Church.
Next time you're in the Church, take a walk around and see how many instances of these symbols you'll see -- our faith is all around us! -
The Crucifix
The cross is the universally-recognized symbol of Christianity. From the earliest days of Christianity, people used the symbol of the cross to show that they were followers of Christ.
The crucifix is an image used mainly by Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Anglicans, and Episcopalians. It’s a 3-D representation of Christ’s body on the cross. Some Christians object to the crucifix, saying that since Jesus is in Heaven there is no need to depict him on the cross. We Catholics know, of course that Christ “sits at the right hand of the Father in Heaven”, but the crucifix shows us that Christ is with us as well in our pain, suffering, and death here on earth.
The large crucifix in our sanctuary is that of the “Risen Christ”, transposing the Resurrection onto the cross. It shows both the glory and the suffering of Christ. The symbols on our crucifix are:
1. Jesus - He is robed as a prophet, crowned as a king, and vested in a stole as Great High Priest.
2. Hand on top - Anointing of God the Father through the Holy Spirit. Shows the Trinity acting as one.
3. Skull - Refers to Golgotha, the site at which Jesus was crucified, which the Gospels say means in Hebrew, “the place of the skull.” It also shows Christ’s victory over death.
4. Two people on either side of Jesus - The prophet Elijah and Moses, the two figures flanking Jesus at the Transfiguration. Fr. Gene Doré, the pastor at the time of the church’s construction, personally helped to design our crucifix and had it redone several times before he was happy with it.
St. Paul wrote that Jesus is the “image of the invisible God.” As Jesus was an icon of God for the world, so his cross and the crucifix can help us to grow in our love and understanding of God. It was Jesus himself who said, “When I am lifted up I will draw all people to myself.”