OUR HISTORY

Who was St. Bridget?

Bridget of Kildare (c. 453-523) was something of a legend in her lifetime, and afterward her fame soon spread to Britain and the Continent.

Her mother was a bondwoman and a convert to the faith; her father was a minor pagan chieftain.  After Bridget's birth he sold her mother as a slave to a druid.  The child was placed in the care of a nurse and later traded back and forth between parents.

In her youth, and against her father's plans, Bridget chose to remain a virgin and consecrate her life to Christ.  Besides being the founder of the first religious community of women in Ireland, she was a renowned evangelist and a foremost church leader.  Instead of a cloistered life she preferred to engage in extensive apostolic work traveling throughout her native land.  Bishops and kings sought out her counsel and guidance, while she sought out the poor as the special concern of her ministry.

The numerous accounts written about her consist principally of miracles and anecdotes, often with far-fetched touches of folklore.  But if some of the tales of Bridget tax credulity, her vision of Christ in the needy was never disputed.  Her charity was the hallmark of her personality.

Just as the shamrock is associated with St. Patrick, so is the simple cross made of rushes linked to Bridget.  Legend has it that while explaining the passion to a dying pagan, she wove a cross from the rushes strewn about his floor.  For centuries St. Bridget's Feast Day, 1 February , was the day crosses of woven straw were put over the doors of Irish cottages, and housekeepers repeated a rhyme which bids them bring out a portion of butter to divide among the working lads.

Bridget is a joyful, earthly, invigorating saint, who comes to us wiping her hands on her apron, her face shining with welcome, her heart filled with the Lord, her hand always out to the poor.  More than anything else, she radiates the goodness, the wholeness, the attractiveness of the Christian life as revealed by a loving, faith-filled, free Christian woman.

We  often yearn to look out of the daily world we live in and reach beyond.  There is an inner longing for a relationship with the Devine that rests in our hearts.  The Prayer Chapel is a place where we can step out of the busyness of everyday living to reflect, be still, and pray.

The chapel committee worked together over six months to help our parish community develop a quiet, meditative place to pray.  The Prayer Chapel is a place where we can join in Centering Prayer or other forms of contemplative prayer.  Fr. Thomas Keating's "Open Mind, Open Heart" sums up our need for a place of renewal: "Contemplative prayer is the world in which our private self-made worlds come to an end; a new world appears within and around us and the impossible becomes everyday experience.  Yet the world that prayer reveals is barely noticeable in the ordinary course of events.

Stained Glass Windows
Maurine McGuire created the stained glass windows in the Prayer Chapel.  The west window design depicts the the Holy Spirit's breath of creation with earth, water, wind, and fire - a link with the Native American glass in our main church.  The north Window design reveals the importance and centrality of the Eucharist in our Catholic heritage.  Here we see wheat, grapes, and blood poured out around the circular bread of life.  Maureen used a collection of European opal glasses to emphasize the circular motif of God's unending presence in our lives.

The Crucifix
The Crucifix was created by Sr. Esther, a Trappistine nun from the Santa Rita Abbey, a small monastery of the Cistercian Order, located in Sonoita, Arizona.  Fr. Scott found the Crucifix while on retreat at the St. Benedict's Monastery in Snowmass, Colorado.  The Monastery has it's roots in the Rule of St. Benedict, which dates back 1500 years.  The St. Benedict's Monastery is located in a spectacular valley high in the Colorado Rockies and is well known for contemplative prayer, especially Centering Prayer.

Mother of the Incarnate Word
It is an ancient tradition of the Church saying that one "writes" an icon.  Fr. William McNichols created the Mother of the Incarnate Word for a Jesuit friend who at the time was a scholastic studying theology.  He copied the Kaluga Icon with the childlike image of the young Mother of God who looks no older than 15.  Mary is holding a book in one hand and seems to be intensely reflecting on the Word while her other hand seems to rest on her heart.  Fr. William then added her pregnancy to complete the symbolic representation of the vocation of the student of theology.  This is an image of every Christian who meditates on the Word in scripture and who also has the Word inside them.

The Holy Child of Atocha
Iconographer Fr. William McNichols wrote the Holy Child of Atocha based on the statue of El Santo Nino de Atocha where one always finds many pairs of small sandals.  In the legend, the Holy Child leaves His Mother's arms each night to help those in trouble or those in prison.  He feeds them, gives them water and gives them hope.  In the night's darkness, the Holy Child gives food for the journey to new life.  Look closely and see our Valley of the Sun in the icon.

St. Bridget Chapel Committee
Kevin Harris, Liz Carter, Paul Saliba, Jackie Connors, Ken Schnek.

Tapestry of Love

You can see it in the eyes of a child
Who just met Jesus at First Eucharist.

You can hear it as our voices join in song --
The ultimate prayer of praise and thanksgiving.

You can feel it in the air on a peaceful, starry night
In the courtyard,
As we welcome the newest members of our family
At Easter Vigil.

It is the love and warmth and the joy
Of so many hearts and souls and voices.

These finest threads of expression are woven
Into a beautiful tapestry of ministry and community spirit
Here at St. Bridget Church.

Come join us as we support and bless each other
On our daily journey --

Thanking God at all times
For leading us to each other in our search for him ..

And using the strength of these finely woven threads
To wrap the world in his love.

A tribute to St. Bridget Church
On the occasion of our
10th Anniversary February 2, 1995
Parishioner: Debbie Kongs