Art and Faith: La Sagrada Familia Basilica by Antoni Gaudi

 

"You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."

-1 Peter 2:5

If you ask me what my favorite building in the world is, it won't take me long to answer: it's La Sagrada Familia Basilica in Barcelona Spain.  Sagrada Familia (Spanish for "Holy Family") has been under continuous construction for more than 140 years--and it's not done yet!  According to legend, the donor who sponsored the church's construction had a dream about a distinct looking red-haired, blue eyed man built the most glorious church building he'd ever seen.  The next day, as the donor walked past an architecture firm, he happened to glance in the window and see the exact man from his dream sitting at a desk doing clerical work.  Although the young clerk was not a famous or established architect, the donor asked him to design and build Sagrada Familia.

The young clerk's name was Antoni Gaudi, and he would prove to be the right man for the job.  Instead of drawing up plans for a traditional Gothic style cathedral with straight lines and mathematical angles, Gaudi opted for something never seen before--a church building with no straight lines or angles.  As a devout catholic, Gaudi's architecture style was inspired by God's Creation; he believed that by looking to Nature as a model for his designs, he was "collaborating with the Creator.”  Using the created world as springboard, Gaudi imagined a building that feels like it it is growing organically up from the ground.  The church's interior, with its tree-like pillars resembles a living forest of stone, and the outside teems with a cacophony of sinuous shapes and textures mirroring the wildness and variety of God's Creation.  Moving counterclockwise around the exterior of the building, the three main facades tell the Story of Redemption--from Jesus' birth, through His Passion and death, and onto His exaltation and rule in heaven.  It's worth googling pictures of the three facades, taking a virtual tour at the Sagrada website, or watching the 2012 documentary "Sagrada: The Mystery of Creation" to get a taste of the beauty and grandeur of this building.

Gaudi's life and career were cut short in 1926 when he was hit by a bus, but several generations of architects and builders have faithfully followed his designs and carried out his vision in the hundred years since his death.  The still-rising Sagrada Familia, with its constant construction reminds us that beautiful things take time to build.  It reminds us of how Christ patiently and faithfully continues to build His True Church over generations of history, using people--placing each of us, like living stones in the place he has designed for us.  The church that Christ is building may not have many straight lines--it may look messy and chaotic, but Jesus continues to faithfully build us together in an edifice that will one day reveal itself to be a work of great beauty for the glory of God.