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.