Megachurches

Its not as big as it looks...its much bigger.

In Milan, I saw the 4^th largest church in the world.  What made the greatest impression on me was not the art, nor the relics, but how empty the building was.  Even with crowds of tourists, it was incredibly empty.  Of course much of this was due to the immense size of the building, but it brought a point home to me.

The Catholics had the original mega-church.  It was not built to just impress people.  It was built, first and foremost, to be used.  I could not help but imagine how brilliant it would have been to be worshipping in that church surrounded by thousands of people.  What if thousands came to daily mass?  What if our buildings of worship were always full?

I did some research later and found out that about 9 masses are said there daily.  Somehow the church felt more like a museum. It felt hollow.  To me, all this emphasized that WE are the church.  We Christians animate these wonderful works of art much like Christ animates us.  Such a wonderful piece of art needs a great deal of life to be full, and we should accept this as a personal challenge.  We must provide life equal to the splendor of the world’s greatest churches.