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GregoryPalamas
Guest
I agree completely. It is the people themselves who built and build most of the beautiful Churches. They may not be able to afford such beauty for their private homes but they can enjoy it together in a house built to reflect God. We tend to build houses in such a way that would make one think that we believe ourselves to be God. Many tend to build ugly buildings for common worship with the intention, I gather, to demonstrate to the world just what we think of Jesus who would dare challenge our superiority.The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Judas complains about ‘waste’.
Iconoclasts attempt to prohibit what they as being in the 7th century.
Puritans ravage and destroy in any items not deemed ‘plain enough’ in the 17th century.
And today, there’s an outcry that anything which is not perceived of as ‘benefitting the poor’–whether it was created 1 day ago or 1000 years ago–should be immediately taken away and somehow given to “the poor”, but, of course, even if Catholics actually DID that with every blessed (literally) item, they would STILL be disparged for not having done it BEFORE. . .
It’s presented as a no-win situation, but in reality it’s a non issue. And the calls for ‘giving to the poor’ (as if we DIDN’T) and the sneers about Catholic greed are IMO divisive, disparging and unkind, dare I say “unChristian”. . .
I used to watch “In the Shoes of the Fisherman”. I used to be very moved by the gift of much of the Vatican treasures to help feed the starving people of China. I used to be very moved until it dawned on me “What happens the next time a government comes along which starves its own people? Who will pull their fannies out of the fire then once all of the Vatican treasure is gone? And who will replace the beauty now displayed at the Vatican?”
CDL