The soothing silence within Omagh’s Sacred Heart Church

Do you feel that air when you sit in the pews of the church?

That air, thin yet homely, is a spiritual feeling that graces the large house of the Lord.

I would confidently say that most, if not all, readers are regular or semi-regular attenders of the church. Whether you are religious to the core, fervently arriving every Sunday morning, or the occasional passer-by for Christmas, weddings and confirmations, you would be familiar with the holy hall.

So I need not preach to you about the goings-on of church life. Instead, my focus for you is the aura of such spiritual sites.

Luckily, locally many of our churches are architectural masterpieces, awesome in scale, design and grandeur. The Sacred Heart Church, as it looms over the town of Omagh, comes to mind instantly.

However the entirety of church hill contains the marvel of Omagh’s Christian legacy and the local devotion to God, no matter the sect of Christianity it falls under.

Many of our Tyrone villages have their own ecclesiastical sites, many laying as a wonderful decoration to the beautiful landscapes that surround them.

Inside these churches, outside of Mass and services, is the calming, soothing silence of a welcoming solace. The daylight diffused by stained glass windows creates a soft light that highlights the architectural images contained within the walls and pillars that line the pews.

The main tenants of the Lord’s house are the resident priests and ministers, who too are encompassed in the calming nature of the church. Their soothing, calm voices – that never seem to raise except for delivering empowered readings from the good book – can lay any layman of troubled mind at ease.

For some churches, the adjoining graveyards provide a solemn, peaceful space for reflection. On a nice day, the cool air, softly broken by the rustling of trees in the wind creates a subliminal thought that the dead that lie beneath are at peace.

In a life filled with troubles and loud environments, the church provides a sanctuary of peace to momentarily break away and reflect on your consciousness.