Lights Arise. A Benedictine oblate blog

Yesterday I visited the St. Leo Abbey church for vespers (5:00 pm) and compline (8:00 pm). After vespers I came back inside the church about 7:00 pm and enjoyed the stillness of the quiet church for about an hour.

There are many events to watch in a quiet church. One is the lights of the saints. The afternoon sun coming through the saints’ stained-glass windows located high on the church’s west wall is cast across the church onto the church’s east wall.

The Florida sun was getting lower in the sky in the west, but the light from the saints’ windows was projected onto the church’s east wall and those patches of light slowly got higher and higher. As the sun was setting the church was fairly dark because there were only a few lights on, but I could still see traces of the saints’ light high on the east wall as if getting ready to ascend beyond the church’s interior at the end of the day.

Each time I sit quietly in the stillness of the St. Leo Abbey church I am amazed at how much action and movement there is in the church. The light through the stained-glass windows of the saints powers some of the movement.

It is movement that is just beneath my ability to see while looking directly at it, but if I look away into the stillness for a minute and then look back, I notice that the light from the saints has just moved up a bit on the opposite wall. After an hour in the church — although the process is slow — there is great change from when I arrived.

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Picture is "Kenansville,Florida sunset 2" by crossfirecw

Freedom in the Light. A Benedictine oblate blog

I visited St. Leo Abbey, Florida, USA, recently to pray with the monks at vespers.

I arrived early so I could sit in the church. The church was filled with beautiful light — from the new lighting installed as part of an interior painting/improvement project, but also from the stained-glass windows that filtered the bright sunlight. The effect gave the light inside the church a rich texture that I enjoyed as I sat quietly. The right light, like the right silence, can speak to a heart.

The Church of the Holy Cross (St. Leo Abbey’s church) has statues of saints along the walls. One statue is of St. Leo the Great (who in 453 convinced Attila the Hun not to attack Rome — way to go Pope!). This great Pope also is honored in the name of St. Leo Abbey.

As I was leaving the church after vespers, the statue of St. Leo, encircled by green light, caught my eye. I took the picture shown above.

Green is the color for hope, bountifulness, and freedom from bondage.

On this visit to pray with the monks, St. Leo the Great and the St. Leo Abbey used light for their lessons in history, Lent, and Easter.