Preserving the Grammar of Worship
“Lex orandi, lex credendi.”
“The law of prayer is the law of belief.”
For nearly two thousand years, the Church has understood that the way she worships shapes the way she believes. Before theology was written in books, it was proclaimed through the liturgy. Before most Christians could read, they learned the mysteries of the faith through the architecture of the sanctuary, the rhythm of the liturgical year, the beauty of sacred art, and the solemn celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
This is the grammar of worship.
Like the grammar of a language, it is often unnoticed by those who speak it fluently. Yet it gives meaning to every gesture, every symbol, every movement toward the altar. It teaches without words. It forms the heart before it informs the mind. Through beauty, reverence, and sacred order, generations of Catholics have come to know Christ.
Lex Orandi is Shannon Zabawa’s ongoing artistic work dedicated to preserving this grammar through watercolor.
These paintings are not intended simply as architectural portraits. They are acts of remembrance. They preserve places where heaven has touched earth, where countless souls have knelt in prayer, where children were baptized, couples united in marriage, priests ordained, sins forgiven, and Christ offered sacramentally upon the altar. Each work seeks to capture not merely a building, but the living tradition embodied within it.
As the collection grows, it becomes a visual archive of Catholic worship—a testimony to the beauty that has formed the Church for centuries and continues to shape her faithful today.
Three Expressions of Lex Orandi
The collection unfolds through three complementary bodies of work. Together they tell the story of Catholic worship across time, place, and tradition.
The Enduring Light
Preserving the Grammar of Reverence
The first expression of Lex Orandi is Lux Perpetua, a collection devoted to preserving the sacred spaces, traditions, and moments of worship through which generations of Catholics have encountered Christ.
These works seek to capture the atmosphere of Catholic worship-the stillness before Mass, the glow of candlelight upon the altar, the beauty of the liturgical seasons, and the reverence that transforms ordinary spaces into places set apart for God.
They reflect the truth that sacred spaces speak. The sanctuary, altar, sacred images, silence, and rituals handed down through centuries form a visual language through which the Church expresses her faith. Through this language, generations of Catholics have learned not only where to worship, but how to approach the mystery of God.
The churches represented in Lux Perpetua share a significant moment in the recent history of Catholic worship. Their stories reflect the enduring bond between sacred tradition, faithful communities, and the inheritance carried from one generation to the next.
Every church tells a story-not merely of bricks and stone, but of sacrifice and prayer, of souls formed by the liturgy, and of the enduring light of Christ that continues to shine through His Church.
Ecclesia Triumphans
The Church in Glory
If Lux Perpetua contemplates the Church on earth, Ecclesia Triumphans turns our eyes toward heaven.
This series seeks to portray the saints, angels, and heavenly realities that surround every celebration of the Mass. Catholic worship has always understood the liturgy as participation in the eternal worship of Heaven. Whenever the Church gathers around the altar, she joins her voice with angels and saints in praising the Lamb.
These paintings invite viewers to contemplate the communion of saints not as distant historical figures, but as living members of Christ’s Mystical Body who continue to intercede for His Church.
Through sacred imagery rooted in Scripture and tradition, Ecclesia Triumphans reminds us that every earthly liturgy opens onto an eternal reality.
Via Pulchritudinis
The Way of Beauty
Beauty has always been one of God’s first evangelists.
Via Pulchritudinis explores the countless ways beauty leads the human heart toward truth. Rather than focusing solely on churches or saints, this collection reflects the sacramental imagination of Catholicism—finding signs of God’s presence in creation, the domestic church, sacred objects, pilgrimage, devotional life, and the ordinary moments through which grace quietly works.
These paintings celebrate the conviction that beauty is never merely decorative. Properly ordered, beauty awakens wonder, invites contemplation, and disposes the soul to receive God.
Through watercolor, the collection seeks to remind viewers that every authentic beauty ultimately points beyond itself.
Preserving the Grammar of Worship
Languages disappear when they are no longer spoken.
Traditions disappear when they are no longer lived.
The grammar of Catholic worship is preserved not only in books and documents, but in places, images, rituals, architecture, music, light, silence, and sacred memory. It is found in the eastward-facing altar, the sanctuary lamp, the flicker of candles, the cadence of chant, the colors of the liturgical year, the kneeling faithful, and the quiet reverence that teaches the soul how to adore.
These are not accidental customs.
They are the visual and symbolic language through which the Church has proclaimed the Gospel for centuries.
When these expressions are forgotten, something more than aesthetics is lost. A language of faith grows silent. The connection between worship and belief becomes more difficult to perceive. Yet when they are preserved, they continue to teach, inspire, and form new generations of Catholics, often without a single word being spoken.
This conviction lies at the heart of Lex Orandi.
Through each painting, Shannon Zabawa seeks to preserve this language—not out of nostalgia, but out of hope. Sacred art has always helped the Church remember who she is. It continues to reveal that beauty is not an accessory to worship, but one of its enduring expressions.
Every watercolor is therefore offered as an invitation: to slow down, to contemplate, to remember, and ultimately to enter more deeply into the mystery of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Because the grammar of worship is more than our inheritance.
It is a gift worthy of preservation for generations yet to come.
Lex Orandi exists to preserve the grammar of Catholic worship through sacred watercolor, so that the beauty that formed generations of the faithful may continue to inspire generations yet to come.