The Sagrada Familia, jubilee gateway to the God of hope
Gaudi masterpiece, Barcelona’s Minor Basilica is ‘a sign of hope for the Church. Jubilee year kicks off Dec. 29
(by Benedetta Capelli – Vatican City)
Contemplation and admiration for “this holy environment of enchanting beauty, with so much history of faith.”
Pope Benedict XVI, on Nov. 7, 2010, had expressed in his homily for the dedication of the Sagrada Familia, that wonder one feels when crossing the threshold of the “Bible in stone,” as it has been repeatedly called, a union between the reality of the world and the history of salvation.
A marriage of art and liturgy, Antonio Gaudi’s work completely rethought beginning in 1883, a year after work began, was called by Cardinal Lluís Martínez Sistach, now Archbishop Emeritus of Barcelona, “a cartography of the sacred, a great open map where the world can read the great questions of life, of origin and end, of heaven and earth.”
Visited by more than 4 million people each year, the Sagrada Familia is in this Jubilee one of the 8 sacred places where one can receive the gift of indulgence along with the Basilica of Our Lady of Mercè, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Tibidabo, the Basilica of Santa Maria de Mataró, the parish church of Santa Maria de Cornellà, the Sanctuary of St. Joseph of the Mountain in Barcelona’s Salut neighborhood, and the Cottolengo church of Father Alegre.
The latter two places are extremely symbolic: the Congregation of the Mothers of the Homeless and St. Joseph of the Mountain,” explains the rector of the Sagrada Familia, Fr. Josep Maria Turull, ”assists children who are orphans or in difficulty; in the second, the Sisters of Jesus of the Cottolengo of Padre Alegre care for people with physical and mental disabilities.
“These are examples of hope.”
The way of beauty
Opening the jubilee year last Dec. 29, Cardinal Juan Jose Omella, archbishop of Barcelona, expressed the hope that it would be a year to grow in hope. “Hope,” he said, ”does not disappoint and is rooted in the love of Christ who loved us so much that he became one of us to save us.
Hope that is breathed when looking at the towers of the Sagrada Familia raised to the sky, the three “retablos” the altarpieces placed outside that are invitations to question and search. “I think the Sagrada Familia,” adds Fr. Turull, ”is all in all a door that opens to God and therefore opens to hope.
When you enter you stand open-mouthed, in admiration, it is a masterpiece of the via pulchritudinis, the way of beauty, which opens to faith.” But it is an amazement that leads to much more.
“It’s not just being open-mouthed, you open your heart to beauty. We have so many testimonies of people who are atheists, far from God, who upon entering allow themselves to be pierced by the Spirit.” Therefore, he adds, “I think the Sagrada Familia is a sign of hope for the Church because it manages to open hearts.”