Quotes of the Week

Earlier this week, the Roman Catholic Church proclaimed St Hildegard of Bingen a Doctor of the Church. Among her multitude of roles and accomplishments, she helped articulate the medieval Christian understanding of creation and the role of arts within it. Here are a few quotes included in the order of worship for the proclamation and mass.

The light that I see is not spatial, but much more luminous than a cloud that sustains the sun, and I can not tell its height, nor its width, nor its depth. And as the sun, the moon and the stars are reflected in water, so shine the writings, the words, the virtues and many works of men - in them reflected - in me. (from: In the fire of the dove)

Man is in fact the absolute divine work, because through him one recognizes God, and for him God created all creatures. (from the Liber Divinorum)

For creation itself received a kiss from the Creator, when God gave it all of which it has need. (from the Liber Divinorum)

The senses lead man to the knowledge of God and transform him in the image of God. (from: Exegesis of the Creed)

And as work for the TSA/AIA presentation wraps up, here is a great summary remark from AWN Pugin on what it means to build a church:

"The greatest privilege possessed by man is to be allowed, while on earth, to contribute to the glory of God: a man who builds a church draws down a blessing on himself both for this life and that of the world to come, and likewise imparts under God the means of every blessing to his fellow creatures; hence we cannot feel surprised at the vast number of religious buildings erected by our Catholic forefathers in the days of faith, or at their endeavours to render those structures, by their arrangement and decoration, as suitable as their means could accomplish for their holy and important destination."