Sightseeing footage of the Cathedral of Brasilia, Brazil (7:09)

Cathedral of Brasilia

John the Baptist gives witness to the Light

VIDEO CLIP

The video begins with showing exterior shots of the cathedral and playing O Come, Emmanuel.

SCRIPTURE VERSE

As the earth brings forth its plants, and a garden makes its growth spring up, so will the Lord GOD make justice and praise spring up before all the nations. — Isaiah 61:11

ILLUSTRATION

The Cathedral of Brasília is the Roman Catholic cathedral serving Brasília, Brazil, and serves as the seat of the Archdiocese of Brasília. The cathedral is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary under her title of Our Lady of Aparecida. 

The nave of the church exists entirely underground. Visitors enter into the cathedral through a dark tunnel and emerge into a bright space with a glass roof reaching up, open, to the light of the sky.

Moreover, on the surface when you look at the cathedral, what you see is the ceiling  is the concrete-framed hyperboloid ceiling. It was designed to represent two hands moving upward to heaven. Figurately, the cathedral appears to be springing up out of the ground. 

CONNECTION

On this third Sunday of Advent, the first reading offers a different metaphor of the earth brings forth plants which spring up into the light and giving praise before the nations.

In the Gospel John the Baptist in the darkness of the wilderness giving witness to the Light: Jesus. Three times John says: “I am not the Light.” When asked who he is, John replies: “I am a voice pointing people to Jesus who is the Light.”

Just as visitors to the cathedral in Brasilia enter through a dark tunnel and emerge in a bright space, this Advent Christ can break into our lives and drive away the darkness, too...

Just like the great Gothic cathedrals, the light that comes through the windows of the cathedral in Brazil is transformed into supernatural light that elevates us beyond our ordinary experience to get us to meditate on our Catholic faith. 

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