Welcome Center (Narthex) East Wall Windows (Panel-A)
The Narthex windows were relocated when the Welcome Center was added. They are now located on the east wall of the Bride's Room ("cry" room). These windows represent the Five Ages of Man, i.e., Birth, Adolescence, Maturity, Old Age, and Death. Each window displays a stage of life using an hourglass, depicting how much time remains for us. The top half of the hourglass is full at birth and empty at death. The background of each glass gradually changes from bright to dark, meaning lives begin in empty innocence and end full of the experience of life, its joys, sorrows, victories, and defeats.
Birth - physical development, innocence, devoid of life’s turmoil
Adolescence - verdant growth
Maturity - energetic and productive
Old Age - regal and retiring
Death - full of the experience of life, its joys, sorrows, victories, and defeats
Below each hourglass is a square area of panes. Each depicts the spiritual growth associated with the stage of life, which begins in the dark shadow of uncertainty but ends with the bright resolution of a fulfilled soul returned to its creator.
Birth
Adolescence
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Maturity
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TOld Age
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Deatht...