At St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Church in Chicago, a newly carved monstrance, a receptacle for exhibiting the Eucharist for adoration:
the Ark of the Covenant with the Virgin Mary enthroned on the crescent moon, with a crown of twelve stars, with the consecrated bread of the Eucharist encased in her heart as a shining sun. She is also here the Woman of the Apocalypse (Rev 12.1).
You can get a sense for scale from this picture:
Upsetting to advanced Catholics. Here it is, in situ.
But really, is this Catholic or what?
4 comments:
Egypt goes under in Egypt, rises in Chicago! ... Did you know that the Thames (Thammuz) River at and above Oxford is the Isis?
truly creepy
Beautiful. Far from being idolatrous, I would say it shows proper veneration of Mary. The consecrated host "Jesus" being literally stored in his mother Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant. An inspired design for a tabernacle. One could almost argue, divinely so.
Well, while I, as one who has always been attracted to the Virgin, find the Marian aspect of the monstrance to be quite nice - though aesthetically I believe the proportions to be slight overkill - I am more than a little put off by the slavish resemblance of this tabernacle to that of the old ark. Once again, are not Catholics people of a new covenant that obsoleted the old? I can find much beauty in the idea of a resting place for the host, even one that is beautiful in aspect and workmanship, but such an obvious resemblance to the ark of the law is more than a little arresting for me - and not in a good way. Let's also not kid ourselves that the OT ark was used - or at least perceived by the Jews of that time - not merely a dwelling place of God-head but also as a weapon of war. Somehow I do not think it fitting that the incarnated body of the Prince of Peace - should be held in a tabernacle so directly reminiscent of the ark of law, war, and ethnic supremacism. I think that's roughly akin to storing the host for adoration in a tabernacle shaped like the casing of a thermonuclear bomb......very much surroundings in opposition to what the host represents to me at least - the victory of universal love over mere law, although I am no anti-nomianist either. Yes, I'm totally aware of the theology of Mary and how many tie it into the place of the OT ark but....I dunno....it still troubles me. I love the idea of a resting place for the host including a Marian motif but the rest.......no thanks.
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