STAINED GLASS WINDOW

By: Fr. Polykarp Uehlein, OSB

Then God said: Let there be light, and there was light. (Genesis 1:3)

Jesus spoke to them again saying, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (Jn 8:12)

Touched by the light of Nebraska, and with its landscape under his feet, Father Polykarp Uehlein, OSB, created the stained glass windows for the St. Benedict Center.  God is the Great Artist.  Let the colors of His palette touch your spirit and imagine where in the myriad of His creation these colors appear: Can you picture... the tail feathers of a bald eagle, the sky full of stars as midnight arrives, the rich brown soil growing food for a hungry world, the crust of a freshly-baked loaf of bread, a country road at sunrise, the blush of green and pink awakened with the spring, the slope of a cornfield touched by the sun on an August afternoon, a field of oats ripe for harvest, goldenrod along a roadside, the yellow-gold leaves distilled by the cool winds of autumn, a white-tailed deer leaping over a fence, a bouquet of roses grown in a grandmother’s garden, a cardinal reflecting the gleam of the snow...

As you enter the chapel, let your eyes rest on a stained glass window which draws your attention.  Find a comfortable place from which to contemplate it.  You are listening with your eyes.  Allow the Holy Spirit to use the colors to move your heart.  Does the red in a window urge you to reach for it and feel the pulse of Christ?  Watch the light move with time.  Notice how windows which at first may have seemed without life or beauty now become meaningful and beautiful in unexpected ways.  This is how our spiritual life works, too.  In spite of what we may think at times, we are not in charge of all things.  It is only when we listen to and feel the movements of grace from Our Lord that we glimpse the true meaning and beauty of the world, and of the world to come.  We cannot impose our limits on God.  God is always greater – always beyond – what we are able to conceive.