St. Christopher at the Lake > Worship

Our Prayer As Christophers

"Father, we thank you for the beauty of your bright and varied world: the sky, the earth, and all the living things. We thank you even more for your daily nurturing care and your love for us, and for all the people you have assigned at our side. As we walk through the path of our lives, help us to be always aware of, and to trust in your providential presence. Help us to rediscover every day the presence of Jesus inside our brothers and sisters, young and old, rich and poor, living anywhere throughout this vast world. Lord, make us willing to play the Good Samaritan to them and to accept them as our God-sent helpers above all when we are in need. Like St. Christopher of ancient books, help us to rejoice as we discover that by helping our neighbor, we are actually carrying Jesus on our weak shoulders, Christ who carried us on his, first on his way to Calvary and later on our way to Heaven. Amen."

Is St. Christopher still relevant?

Old sources state that Christopher was a third century martyr who lived and died in Damascus, Syria. Later accounts tell of this recently baptized giant Christopher (literally, the person who carries Christ) who could neither embrace a life of fasting nor of prayer. So, he decided to imitate Christ through his "good deeds" like Jesus the 'Good Samaritan'. He set himself to carry wayfarers over a bridgeless river. One day, while he was carrying a little child through the stream, he staggered under what seemed to him a crushing weight. When the giant voiced his surprise, the child replied: "Marvel not, for you are carrying upon your back the world and Him who created it!" The St. Christopher's legend is a parable valid for all times and people. It may be a Christianized rendition of the pagan Hercules, the friend and champion of the suffering humanity. Due to this legend, St. Christopher has become the popular patron saint of those travelers who put their talents at the service of others for the love of God. Christians are challenged to see themselves as modern-time 'Christophers'. Like him, they have endless opportunities to carry Christ in all kinds of situations and locations: at work, at school, during vacation time, while at home, while using cars, sailboats, airplanes, etc. Christians discover the presence of God walking at their side all the time: in their parishioners, neighbors, members of their families, anyone to whom they serve. Jesus has commissioned Christians to invest their time and talents to "carry," wash the feet and serve all the life's travelers.

St. Christopher As the Good Samaritan

The giant Christopher of our sketch by Nick Parrendo, the author of our church door etchings, is presented as the 'Good Samaritan' [see the Priest and the Levite walking away with their noses proudly in the air] [Lk 10]. The child Jesus radiates like the sun [Rev. 1.16 and 12] because he is the joy [Lk 1] and 'light of the world' [Jn. 1 and 8]. The thirsty deer [Ps 42], like in our church mural, represents our soul longing for Jesus' 'living water'. The reeds along the river make us recall Israel's Exodus and both their and our crossing the 'reed/red sea' [Ex 15] at baptism; the river stands for our baptism, for the infant Moses' floating among the Nile's reeds [Ex 2] and becoming adopted like us by the great king. The birds of the air and the flowers of the fields recall Mt 6:26-28. The three trees in the background stand for Moraine Park and for us Christians rooted in God's grace in order to produces fruits [Lk 13] They also represent the fruitful Garden of Eden where we return thanks to Jesus who endured the Passion [three trees of the cross]. The boat moving towards Christ carries in its sail the sun and a star. Like in our logo, in our mural and in the etched side door of our church, it represents Peter's boat, the Church catching and carrying us the numberless fish [Jn. 21].

Our Church Mural and Logo

The left-hand panel of the triptych displays on a scroll [Rv 5] a map identifying with a cross the location where 'men of good will' can find God's treasure [Mt 13:45] and temple [Rev 21]. This church of St. Christopher, [Lk 12:33] was erected at the south of the moraine [Ez 40:20s], thus marking the spot where God stopped, reversed and melted the advancing deadly glaciers, a destructive evil power. Any pilgrim can locate this God's temple by following the [Mt 7:13] highways, # 79 and # 422 which lead to it [Jn 14:6]. Above the map, God, as the 'cloud of unknowing' [Ex 13], leads the 'remnant' [Is 10:20] eastward thus, the faithful return to Eden and to their original intimacy with God [Gn 3:8, 24]. The star is an ancient hieroglyphic for God [Mt 2:10]. In this 'paradise regained' God's children are sheltered [Gn 15:1] prosper [Is 52:13]. God's children are represented by the 'arbor-vitae' [Gn 2:9], the deer [Ps 42], the fish [Mk 1:17] and the vine [Is 5].

The right-hand panel of the triptych stresses Christian topics. Peter's boat carries along Jesus [Mt 8], the 12 Apostles [notice the 13 portholes] and the whole's world's 'wise men' [the yin and yen stand for the world's men and women]. Notwithstanding the contrary winds [Mk 6] and the choppy sea, the Church keeps sailing eastward toward the sun, the light of the world [Jn 3:19]. The bird recalls Ps 84' human longing to live under the protection of God's temple. The reeds recall Moses' survival [Ex 2] & our salvation though the Baptism [Mt 11] and passion of Jesus [Mk 15]. Finally, the skyward flight of the waterfowls refers to our longing to return to God [Is 40:31].

The middle panel of the triptych emphasizes God's temple as the geography and spiritual center of our private and communal gatherings, liturgical celebrations, adorations and thanksgivings. Here, through the Sacraments, we nurture the deepest intimacy with God and with each other at every crucial moment of our lives from birth to death. Here we gather weekly [or daily] to renew our Eucharistic 'contract'. Here we reconcile with God, foster our religious instructions, offer our tithing and voice our petitions to Jesus' while we offer ourselves with him to the Father in the 'mystical body'. The bell tower stands for God's voice calling us to gather, worship and listen to him who is the center of the triptych and of our lives!