Great cathedrals and small chapels will inspire you as do great thunderous canyons and small rills. Even as I have witnessed the church I was baptized in (twice), grew in, confirmed in, was an acolyte in and left because of my perception of its failing, the National Cathedral in Washington DC, built by man, holds a hope and nod to the glory of God that I wish all could see, if only once.
Even as a child I was mesmoized by the builders, sculptors and caretakers that labored every day to physically raise a temple that showed their praise. I once went to a demonstration of cartooning and the sculpting of gargoyles and an Italian stone artist was asked if his was just a job after 20 years of working on the cathedral. He replied that working for the Lord could never be just a job because it is a joy and a calling. He was hunched with a bad back and arthritic hands and knees and the most sparkling eyes that smiled.
My grandmother once remarked that I was baptized twice just like lettuce is washed twice when one is worried about the cleanliness of it. I loved every inch of that 4' 11" titan.
I went to the Cathedral today. I walked from where President Reagan was shot by that poor demented fool. I walked past where I had once lived. I walked past the school I had sucessfully tested and interviewed with and was to attend, but never did. I dallied in the Bishop's garden and tried to find gargoyles I memorized as a child and finally I went down to the crypts and to the Bethlehem Chapel where we said goodbye to my sister Barbara to sit for a while and remember.
It was bittersweet as all those that have gone before seemed to be there to help me remember including that little titan who considered "Ipocals" heathen. Even those washed twice.
