(Basilica de La Sagrada Familia)
I was finally standing on the Plaza de Sagrada Familia after walking for 1.3 kilometers to Carrer de Mallorca from Passeig
de Gracia just to make it to the schedule in my ticket reservation to enter
the Basilica de La Sagrada Familia.
Towering above Barcelona at 566 feet, the Basilica de La Sagrada Familia is one of
the most visited sites in all of Europe, drawing both tourists and pilgrims. That
day, I was both.
Designed by a Catalan architect, Antoni
Gaudi, also known as “God’s architect” because of his vision and work on this
magnificent place of worship, the Basilica de La Sagrada Familia is one of the
most beautiful buildings in the world. Gaudi died in 1926 after being hit by a
tram in the streets of Barcelona.
While admiring Gaudi’s work from the ground
up, one reflects the passages of the Bible as they are depicted by one man’s
work that started in 1894 and was a hundred years from being completed when he
died.
As the architecture and design of the
Basilica are based on the Bible and the Life of Jesus, the three monumental
faćades of the Basilica, namely, the Nativity, the Passion, and the Glory
faćades, are being completed to educate a tourist and evangelize a pilgrim.
The Nativity faćade shows the sculptures of
the birth of Jesus in a scene that is most familiar to Catholics, the Nativity
scene. I realized the ‘belen’ is the most popular Bible story we bring to life:
Saint Joseph and the Virgin celebrating
the birth of the Son of God surrounded by shepherds and the Wise Men. This is
the Holy Family, the Sagrada Familia.
(The sculpture of an angel guiding the donkey
that carries Mary and the Baby Jesus with
Joseph walking after them as they are
fleeing to Egypt)
And in our celebration of the Feast of the
Holy Family, not only do we honor and celebrate our mother and father, but we
also should honor our grandparents.
According to Pope Francis, grandparents “are a treasure” and that their wisdom “is something we must welcome as an
inheritance because a society or community that does not value, respect and
care for its elderly members doesn’t have a future because it has no memory; it
has lost its memory.” After all,
when we Filipinos say ‘family’, it includes everyone – from grandparents to
grandchildren.
And remembering the meaning of the
Basilica’s Nativity faćade that symbolically faces east as the rising sun gives
birth to life – life that should revolve around the Christian values of faith,
hope, and charity.
On the Feast of the Holy Family and in
these times, we should pray for families that are being torn apart, are
incomplete, and are facing challenges. We should look up to the Holy Family,
the Sagrada Familia, as an
inspiration of hope, harmony, and understanding among the family members.💖
As a tourist, it was easy for me to see this
Basilica of Sagrada Familia as a monument of man’s devotion to his Creator. But
as a pilgrim, it is a reminder of my role – our roles in my own families to
look up to the Holy Family as a model Christian family that loves, respects and
honors one another.🙏
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