Gospel in Art: There are many rooms in my Father's house

Corbusier house Berlin, designed by Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, known as Le Corbusier, 1953 © CorbusierHaus Berlin

Source: Christian Art

Gospel of 26 April 2024
John 14:1-6

Jesus said to his disciples:

'Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God still, and trust in me.

There are many rooms in my Father's house; if there were not, I should have told you. I am going now to prepare a place for you, and after I have gone and prepared you a place,

I shall return to take you with me; so that where I am you may be too. You know the way to the place where I am going.'

Thomas said, 'Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?' Jesus said: 'I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me.'

Reflection on the Corbusier Building

Perhaps more than any other art form, architecture is part of our everyday life. The houses we live in, the buildings we work in, the churches we worship in, all important surroundings that we as human beings live and participate in. In 1953, only eight years after the Second World War, new types of buildings were designed to eliminate the acute post-war housing shortage in Berlin. In 1953, Architect Le Corbusier built the block of flats illustrated here, containing 530 apartments. The building is constructed in béton brut (rough-cast concrete) and is part of the initial architecture style we know today as Brutalism. Gaining popularity in the 1950s, Brutalism is characterised by stark, strict, minimalist, linear constructions that showcase the bare building materials, concrete, and structural elements, rather than decorative design.

The gospel reading we have just heard is often chosen as one of the readings for the funeral liturgy. It is easy to understand why that is so. Jesus is speaking to his disciples on the eve of his own death. He promises all of us that he will take us to the Father at the end of our lives. Jesus' description of his Father's house as many roomed suggests the great hospitality of that house. Heaven, it seems, is not a confined space for a selected few; it is an open space for the many, just as Jesus himself did not come for the few, for the elect, but for all.

Jesus desires to take us to the heavenly home of his Father, but in the meantime he wants to make his home in us and he calls on us to make his home in him. A few verses after today's reading Jesus will say to his disciples, 'Make your home in me as I make mine in you'. And one of the primary ways that Jesus makes his home in us and we make our home in him is in the Eucharist.

LINKS

Gospel in Art: https://christian.art/
Today's Reflection: https://christian.art/daily-gospel-reading/john-14-1-6-2024/
Competition: The Laudamus Award 2024 for Sacred Art - www.indcatholicnews.com/news/49310