Qualities of Good Architecture

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Browsing through video clips I chanced upon groups of children and adolescents singing a song in preparation for the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines. Thank you, Spain, for landing on our shores bringing the story of a Jew Who loved us. Of course we knew you were looking for India. Ha ha Spain was where James the Great first brought the teachings of our Lord Jesus. And the Augustinians, the Dominicans, the Franciscans, the Benedictines, et al, came and built the churches, convents, and monasteries that stand formidable and magnificent across the islands. Which brings to mind how good the architecture was of old. I had the pleasure of hopping from one church to another in my youth, and even today when I go on a Visita Iglesia. Someone said that the Church in Pila, Laguna had a foundation as huge as the structure itself. Wow. In my Humanities class back in college, I learned that Roman Architecture has three basic principles: functionality, beauty, stability. These three are present in the churches that still stand strong and majestic. Just like Christianity that stands strong these two thousand years when empires and kingdoms have come and gone. As was written in the Scriptures: (from Matthew) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined.” Christianity is two millenniums old because the Church stands solidly on a ROCK. Next year, the Philippines will celebrate 500 years of Christianity in this blessed archipelago.