Let the word of Christ dwell in you abundantly...singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. - Colossians 3:16
Over the last couple months when I’ve taken my mum to the 4pm Mass I have been taking more note of the rose windows at Saint Francis X. Cabrini in Yucaipa. In particular, due mostly to where my mum likes to sit, I have been looking at the north facing rose window. This window, with its ring of fleur de lis and rose center that I’m able to make out from across the church, is much brighter than other rose windows I’m familiar with, but still no less engaging. Whatever the colors of glass used, a rose window is a delightful and powerful way to be drawn up in prayer. As I move from one circle to another, all harmoniously interconnected to its center point, I feel myself slowing down and being pulled from a different part of myself.
We are both bodily and spiritual people and our Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving reflect this. We ask our bodies to do with less, be it food, sleep, or other bodily pleasures. A more focused attention is given to others so their physical needs can be met. And Lent affords us a special opportunity to address our spiritual side through prayer—using both bodily means and quiet contemplation.
God disposes us to many ways of encountering him and fostering our relationship with him, but prayer requires attention and nourishment to allow the heart to be transformed by grace. Gazing at a rose window, in all its richness, engages our bodies as well as our minds and hearts; we look and move to find a spot that best captures the light that then helps create a time of silent listening. With the window being high above we become acutely aware of our littleness, and our need to gaze upward allows our souls to be directed toward something higher, something beyond ourselves, beyond our reach.
“Prayer places our intellect in the brilliance of God’s light and exposes our will to the warmth of his heavenly love,” says Saint Francis de Sales. A rose window, with light pouring through, can bring this truth into striking definition, and we may begin to gaze at it in quiet awe.
With our bodies slowed down we can listen to our Lord, first through the story of faith played out in the many concentric circles surrounding the center motif, and ultimately through the inner silence that will come about as our awed hearts and minds are stilled and filled with peace. We see beyond the floor space where we stand, seeing beyond to the joys of heaven, drawn into the Person of Jesus through the interaction of light and color coming through the story above us, and through this we can be brought nearer to the Father.
The first gaze at a rose window, especially for those easily distracted like myself, may not bring about this connection with heaven, but if you are able to return often, and carefully put away any distractions, the beauty of the rose window will begin to shine inside you as brightly as you see the outward light and it will become a God time.
You who were once far off have become near by the blood of Christ. He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. - Ephesians 2:13, 17-18
As a practical consideration, so that these last days of Lent be filled with peace and intense prayer, I would like to mention the outdoor labyrinth at the University of Redlands. Saint Frances Cabrini church is not always open during the weekdays to stop in to look at the rose windows but the labyrinth behind the chapel (west side) at the University is available 24 hours. A quiet walk through this space can also create a prayerful time of silent listening and reflection.
The link below is to a short video on the rose window at Sainte-Chapelle, considered one the finest example of stained glass in the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHgHMglUzUo
3 April 2017