Mass 'n be minor

Good morning from Prague. It is 11AM and I have already been up for almost 7 hours--can you believe that? This morning Steve and I got up and that ungodly early hour so that we could be just a bit closer to God and go to the 7AM mass in the cathedral. It was warm and rainy on our way up the hill, but we made in time for one or two photos before the service, and then went to mass.

At mass, we made up 25% of those attending--it was us, the priest and acolyte, and four older women. We sat through mass in Czech, and took communion--to not do so would have been confusing to everyone. While I did not understand anything, I was able to follow along--it helps that the general order of a mass hasn't changed in 1500 years. I have learned that by osmosis, if nothing else. And it was interesting--the city is apparently filled with beautiful women, so Steve keeps reminding me, but I have seen none as beautiful as the ancient little old woman who shared "peace be with you" in Czech as the congregation greeted each other. Faces like that indicate a life of grace, both learned and earned, and lived. And she was beautiful.

Speaking of grace. A few thoughts about all of this. First, some of you may be shocked that I did make it to church, much less a mass. You may be even more surprized that no walls cracked or windows wobbled as I attended and participated. I have to admit that I was a bit worried. Maybe it was the fact that I have been essentially worshiping the grace of all of this throughout the past few days, with the beauty that I have seen. Maybe all of that has imparted enough grace on me to ease me through the doors and the service.

I also was aware of the beauty of the cathedral itself. I have been several times, but there were moments when there but two of us in the main sanctuary. Arches soared to the heavens, and framed windows that took your breath away. While smaller than some cathedrals, it still dominates the skyline, and when inside, it dominates the viewer. Equally impressive, though much smaller and intimate, was the chapel that held the mass. Arches, in double layers, and with lines which drew your eyes upwards, held up the weight of the church which climbed for a hundred feet above us.

Which brings me to the title of this blog. My apologies to J.S. Bach, but the experience today and the whole cathedral concept is to convince man that he is minor in the scheme of things. Majesty is from major, if my Latin from google is correct, and the majesty of the whole building and I suppose the whole concept of a Christian god cements this relationship. The building itself is but a metaphor for the major and the minor. I suppose that we can and do sometimes see this same relationship when looking at say, the Grand Canyon, but it is impressive when man, the minor, creates such majesty to remind himself of the relationship.

If you have about 1,000 pages of free time, read Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth. It pretty accurately portrays what it means for all those involved to actually build such a building. That this cathedral took 700+ years to complete indicates how difficult it is put together such an institution. And how difficult it is to portray majesty for us minors.