To the Band of Brothers: February 16, 2022
Good morning!
There’s an interesting detail in our new chapel that I am almost positive will go undetected by the majority of people. That’s the beauty of religious art and architecture. It gives you the opportunity to very subtly make some powerful statements about our faith. It’s the reason why I keep saying everything has a purpose and you have to always be on the lookout.
For this detail, you have to look down. That’s not our initial reaction when appreciating beauty. We look up or at least at eye level. But this detail requires the viewer to focus on the ground.
If you do that, you’ll notice the beautiful gray and white marbled floor. It’s a checkered pattern that runs all along the nave. At first sight, you like it, but don’t necessarily think too much of it. Then, you look at the floor of the ten side chapels and notice a checkered pattern, but this time it’s red and white.
So, why the contrast? Maybe it’s purely an aesthetic choice. The architect thought it would look nicer than the simple gray and white. Or, maybe it’s all about the contrast to allow those ten spaces to stand out in comparison to the rest of the main building.
While there is some truth to that, there’s a more important reason. See, those side chapels will also feature paintings of various Jesuit saints. Five of them are from Latin America and the other five are from North America. Ten men who the Society of Jesus and the universal Church recognize lived holy lives and dedicated themselves completely to God and the service of His Church.
Some of these men died for the faith. They literally shed their blood for the gospel. The early Church father St. Jerome referred to them as “red martyrs” for obvious reasons. The other men may not have suffered a violent death, but surrendered their whole existence for the gospel. They were willing to suffer martyrdom if called to it but weren’t. Their holiness is just as strong and St. Jerome called them “white martyrs.”
The red and white marble tiles on the floor express the holiness of these men who gave life and limb to the Church. It’s even more appropriate the detail is on the floor because it signifies that the saints are the solid foundation upon which the Church stands. We stand on their witness.
Now we come to the gray and white lining the floor where we will sit during Mass. That’s us. We are saints in the making. We struggle every day to live holy lives. We battle with our weakness and sins striving daily through prayer and in community to become saintly and eventually make our way into heaven. We do it hoping that one day we too can have a side chapel dedicated to our memory with red and white marbled floors.
I know we don’t often think about our vocation to sanctity, but we are all called to it. Not easy, but like the ten Jesuits in our chapel tell us, very possible. It’s an uphill battle, but one we do together as members of the Church. Hopefully, we will all get there and then have the problem of not having enough marble to cover our floors.
Auspice Maria
BELEN JESUIT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: communications@belenjesuit.org
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: communications@belenjesuit.org
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded in 1854 in Havana, Cuba, by Queen Isabel II of Spain. The task of educating students was assigned to the priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose teaching tradition is synonymous with academic excellence and spiritual discipline. In 1961, the new political regime of Cuba confiscated the school's property and expelled the Jesuit faculty. The School was re-established in Miami the same year, and over the next decade, continued to grow. Today, Belen Jesuit is situated on a 34-acre site in western Dade County, just minutes away from downtown Miami.