Today, we visited St. Ignatius Church. This church, built in the baroque style, was created in honor of Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus. While the interior of the church is, without a doubt, beautiful, it appears to be unfinished. A few side chapels have bare walls because the parish ran out of resources before it could be finished. If you stand in the center of the church, you can see a huge dome. Once you step closer, however, you can see that the dome is not, in fact, real. It has been painted on a flat drum on the ceiling, again, as a result of the church's lack of finances.
This juxtaposition of illusion and aesthetic reality reminds me of the story of St. Alexis. This saint left his family to venture into the dessert in order to escape the vanity and fame he was soon to inherit (he had recently married a wealthy, famous woman.) Upon Alexis' return, neither his parents, nor his bride, recognized him. He lived out his life as a beggar on the stoop of his childhood home and only after his death did his family realize who he truly was.
I think this theme of losing yourself in the superficial and failing to fully comprehend the obvious can be seen in many areas of the Catholic faith. The optical illusion of the dome reminds the congregation that, for lack of a better phrase, things are not always as they seem. The beggar on your doorstep could easily be your son. Christ, the savior, could easily be mistaken for a simple, humble man.
St. Ignatius of Loyola preached this theme throughout his life, as well. He was more concerned with helping the poor and hungry than with promoting himself. His aversion to vanity is the great virtue that continues to propel Jesuits in their missions around the world.
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