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Visit to Germay by Rev. Frances D. Montgomery, CM, NST
August 4th, 2018 9:21 pm     A+ | a-
As some of you are aware, I recently spent 10 days traveling to Germany.  Among many interesting sites and experiences were visits to two Cathedrals and Dachau, in Munich, the site of a former concentration camp.

The first Cathedral was in Amsterdam, Holland and was the oldest in the city.  It is now located in the heart of the Red Light District (and yes, they still do have one, also a museum and an ATM both dedicated to supporting the area). 

That Cathedral is now privately owned and no longer used for services.  In some sort of a fund raising effort toward restoration they have commissioned a local artist to construct a replacement stained glass window.  While he is working toward that goal he wrapped every window in the church with red cellophane or some totally red substance which allowed light to enter but bathed the entire interior of the cathedral in red for the year during which he is creating his replacement window.  HIS new window will be unveiled in September of this year and of course, I won’t know what he created. 

The effect caused me to believe it was a type of diabolic tongue in cheek statement referencing the locale of the area.  There was absolutely nothing I could detect of a spiritual nature within the building. 

An East Indian gentleman approached us and in hushed voice asked what we thought of the place.  I voiced my honest opinion of my thoughts.  He makes pilgrimages to visit old cathedrals on his vacations and has seen many.  He was a bit surprised but seemed honestly appreciative of what I had said, agreeing totally that the spirituality of the building was completely missing.  He even said it seemed the most denigrated of any Cathedral that he had seen thus far.  I was pleased to have talked with him and to exchange our feelings which reinforced my own regarding the “restoration.”

The second Cathedral we saw was in Berlin and is being beautifully restored in the old fashion but which to me also lacked any aura of spirituality.  Services are held on Sundays but weekly tours are conducted to continue financing upkeep and repairs. 

I respect that Germany is still doing restoration 70 years after World War Two and was amazed that they are capable of making things look as they would have prior to the bombings that desecrated their world.  The efforts are remarkably effective.  They intersperse newer brick and stone with the old so that the buildings don’t have the fresh appearance of having been recently rebuilt.  In one situation they have left an old bombed out Cathedral next to a newly built structure as an example of the devastation they experienced.  The effect is stark and striking.       
   
I cannot honestly say if it is the difference in the teachings of the religions in those buildings or my own Spiritualist beliefs which caused them to feel so cold to me.  The edifice of the Berlin building was astonishingly beautiful but I perceived absolutely no vibration of Infinite Intelligence, actual GOD FORCE, in the building regardless of its stained glass windows, ornately gilded altar and paintings depicting the pageantry of Biblical times. 
Dachau in Munich was not the worst of the concentration camps – Auschwitz, in Poland – apparently was the most vile.  On the other hand the sensation I felt was of an overall heavy sadness which to me penetrates a country whose surface appears to be that of a thriving forward growing area. 

Modern Germany is Socialist.  The people I encountered seemed busy, happy, were helpful and friendly.  I admire their resilience.  The fact that some current historians are attempting to deny the factual occurrence of the holocaust is frightening to me. 

Once again I am appalled that so many lives have been lost/destroyed throughout recorded history by war brought about by cruelty to others, the desire to control, outright greed for riches and power, and most especially by religious beliefs – by folks who thought their convictions were the only right way to find heaven.

Will mankind never learn? 

I will end with the prayer that the Spirit of God help us to overcome our shortcomings and base instincts and to raise all of our vibrations to focus on the kindness and love Jesus taught. 
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