Wayfaring: Essays Pleasant and Unpleasant

by Alan Jacobs

But this would be pointless, because it is not the purpose of cathedrals simply to make people feel small (there is no virtue in feeling small) but rather to help people understand that they are located within the vast orderly architecture of creation. We are indeed small, but a small part of something glorious, in which we can participate, find our place, find our purpose. Cathedrals are celebrations of all that God has made, and they embody in their stone and glass the history of God's dealings with his world and people made in his image. If we want merely to feel small, it is enough - though it is increasingly difficult - to find a place away from cities where we can observe the night sky and its stars.