Narrow gate and narrow street

How famous are those words from the Gospel. The Mariacka Street in Gdańsk always reminds me of this truth. It is not paved, not easy, but has only one direction - to the church. There is an old movie from Georgia, “Pakajanie”, it means “Atonement." It is about a communist leader in a surreal situation. At the end of this movie a very old woman walks on a street passing by many windows. Suddenly she stops, looks around and asks a lady looking through window: “Does this street lead to the church?” Surprised by lady, one of the main characters from a window answers: “it used to but this church is not there anymore.” The old woman with sadness on her face says: “Why do you need a street if it doesn’t lead to the church?”

It is so great to see the old cities built this way so that most of the streets direct people to the center of a spiritual life. It seems like the tall towers are explaining what direction to go, where the aim of our life is. This was the wisdom of our ancestors that every church was tall enough to be visable from afar, to be a sign of hope. I very often look at modern churches and their contemporary shape is not a sign anymore of things that are above. They are missing some spiritual depth. They have so many symbols related to now that they lost the meaning of things that are everlasting. So if our modern churches are more related to earth than to heaven then what will happen to those that are praying in them? It is just a question that maybe every person should ask oneself. What are we reaching to, when we are there: earth or heaven? The power of the church building reflects the power of Sacraments, the Word of God and the prayers of those with bended knees offering themselves to our Almighty God.

So where is the street of your life leading you?