Our next stop on the tour of the Cathedral of Learning was the Lithuanian room.
This was a special room for me. I have Lithuanian heritage in my family background. In the fall of 2014, while we were on our exchange year of studies in Finland, I made a trek down to Lithuania and Latvia. I made a pilgrimage to the Hill of Crosses. It was amazing. You can do a search on my blog to see pictures of the experience. Let’s just say that over 200,000 crosses on a hill is amazing to see.
So at any rate, I was excited to go into this room. The wood was wonderful and I loved the detail in the windows.
It’s a bit of East meets West – which is also very Lithuanian too. Lithuanians are known for their carvings, and the room did not disappoint.
Neither did the artwork.
Lesson learned here: Lithuania is a small country, but has a deep and long history. Much like the church in the midst of the majority secular culture. The church can often seem like a small country that many either have forgotten about or don’t know anything about. Yet, we are called to carry on – to bring the news that we have to all the world. It’s Good News. It’s like the image in the picture above – a shining city that we hold in the palm of our hands – shining in the darkness around us. We share it with those around us and the light shines brighter and brighter.