Ecumenical Views

The hotel that we are staying at is at the top a hill close to the Vatican. Although this sounds lovely, the location’s disadvantage become painfully obvious whenever we have to walk up the hill in the midday heat and sun. The daunting 110-stair climb mentioned in a classmate’s blog post is actually the “short cut” up the hill. However, you are in for a beautiful surprise if you choose the longer, winding route of the quiet street that vehicles use to mount the hill. As you go around a certain bend on your descent or have the good fortune to turn around at just the right moment of your ascent, you are blessed with a beautiful view dominated by the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Just before dusk on my first day here and before learning about the short cut, I met a woman, who I presumed was a tourist, standing in the middle of the road at that spot taking a photo of the view. In my broken Italian, I told her how I too thought the view was beautiful. Pointing at the small apartment building next to the road, the woman explained that she lives here and that every day she takes a photo from this exact spot. Depending on the light, the time of day, the season and the weather, this photo of the same dome always looks slightly different.

This got me thinking of how the dome doesn’t change while everything else around it does in small and sometimes dramatic ways, making for a new photo every day. Reflecting on this week’s learnings from our ecumenism course, I see how this view is a good metaphor for the Christian Church. Like the dome of St. Peter’s, the core beliefs of the Christian faith remain unchanged and agreed upon by all Christians through times of schism, reform, and often violent interdenominational persecution. And like the dome, these core beliefs also remain unchanged in the various denominations even though the practices, teachings and rituals that surround the beliefs paint a different picture of Christianity for each denomination.

Ecumenism can be a tall, hard hill to climb, but on the way, God’s grace and love and the central beliefs of our faith are always there for all Christians to focus us, comfort us and unite us.

Rosemary

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