To My Boys: October 5, 2020
Good morning!
Last night I walked through the construction site of what will, in the summer of next year, be our new Our Lady of Belen Chapel. When people comment after seeing it as it rises on the southeast corner of our campus they are impressed with how big it is. “That’s not a chapel,” they say, “it’s a church.”
Well, it is a chapel. What distinguishes one from the other is not size, but function. A church is the principal sacred space at the service of a parish. Epiphany, Little Flower, and St. Hugh are churches. A chapel is a sacred space at the service of another institution. For example, hospitals, schools, and army bases have chapels; no matter how big or small they may be.
So, with that clarified, I will continue.
As I was walking through the construction, I was amazed at how impressive the structure is and can just imagine how beautiful it is going to be. Right at the entrance, after you walk through the front doors and under the choir loft, there is a large pillar. I stared at it for a while knowing it will be the future location of the image of Our Lady of Belen.
It may seem like an odd place to place the statue of Mary holding the child Jesus. Usually, when you walk into a church or chapel, the statue of Mary is just to the side of the crucifix behind the altar. Instead, ours will be at the very entrance facing the crucifix. The architect brilliantly placed the image there because he wanted to relate a very important message. From the very beginning of his life, Jesus’s mission was to one day carry his cross and walk that long road towards his sacrifice on Calvary.
The fact is, the image of Our Lady of Belen inspires that very profound reflection. Hopefully, you will remember, the Blessed Mother sits on a manger with her Son Jesus standing upright on her lap. Mary holds him with both hands by his waist and seems to point him towards the viewer. Now, in this context, not only will Mary be pointing Jesus towards us as we look upon them, but she will also be pointing him towards his destiny, towards his sacrifice on the altar.
There is great beauty and power in the Marian image that has accompanied our school for 166 years and will one day take its rightful place in our new chapel. So much so, it would require a very long email to describe it and I would run the risk of having you stop reading after several paragraphs. For this reason, I will take the next couple of days to describe some of the major characteristics of our patroness. Just as I would encourage you to learn as much as you can about your mother or father so you have a better understanding of who you are as a person, I will encourage you to learn a bit more about your spiritual mother so you have a better understanding of who you are as a man of faith.
Auspice Maria,
Fr. Willie ‘87
BELEN JESUIT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@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 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 sits on a 30-acre site in western Dade County, only minutes away from downtown Miami.