Fiat Lux

Whispers reflects upon the significance of the restoration of Baltimore's (and America's) Basilica of the Assumption.

The moral of the project, however, is not a frivolous one, but represents an exigency of this moment in history. Just as the nation's first cathedral was subjected to mutations and experiments not in keeping with the vision from which it first took shape, so the same could be said of the church and the society in which its people are to exist as leaven. Too often, its windows have been darkened, its simple treasures obscured, its purity sacrificed not for a long-term enhancement, but a short-term flair that, more often than not, becomes detrimental under the lens of time.
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But just as the Assumption's construction signaled a beginning, so the message today from our premier see stands as a call, as a beacon for those who've inherited the fruits of faith sown by our forebears, to take on the mission of restoring the light.

The task is daunting. Seeking to resist it is easy, not to mention understandable, given its scale. But as our predecessors were called to build, and what they built has served us well, so are we charged with the duty of maintaining it, paring down the excesses of time and turning back its ravages to return it to the strength and purity of its beginnings. In a technological age, this isn't just a question of physical structures -- if anything, the temporalities are the last of the concerns -- but the continual restoration by our lives and in our work the accolade which was the beacon of the early church, both in Jerusalem and America: "See how they love each other."

As the light returns to the nation's mother church, so may it resonate beyond its walls, that its rediscovered purity and brilliance stand not only as the defining marks of its structure, but of the gathering of souls for whose care it was built.But just as the Assumption's construction signaled a beginning, so the message today from our premier see stands as a call, as a beacon for those who've inherited the fruits of faith sown by our forebears, to take on the mission of restoring the light.

The task is daunting. Seeking to resist it is easy, not to mention understandable, given its scale. But as our predecessors were called to build, and what they built has served us well, so are we charged with the duty of maintaining it, paring down the excesses of time and turning back its ravages to return it to the strength and purity of its beginnings. In a technological age, this isn't just a question of physical structures -- if anything, the temporalities are the last of the concerns -- but the continual restoration by our lives and in our work the accolade which was the beacon of the early church, both in Jerusalem and America: "See how they love each other."

As the light returns to the nation's mother church, so may it resonate beyond its walls, that its rediscovered purity and brilliance stand not only as the defining marks of its structure, but of the gathering of souls for whose care it was built.

Thanks to Rocco Palmo for this splendid report. May the promise he sees in this project bear fruit in the life of America.