A Glimpse of The Creation at the Basilica de Sagrada Familia

(As the rays of the sun pierce through the stained-glass windows, it seems we are peering 

through the Virgin Mary's veil.)

Surrounded by a cavernous space in the basilica’s nave as it is punctuated by the towering columns that look like trees reaching up to the heavens, I was dwarfed by both the idea and the architecture that created this place of worship that, once completed, will be the tallest church in the world.

I am standing inside the huge Basilica de Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain, that has been in construction since 1882 and is expected to be completed in 2026, a hundred years since the death of its architect, Antoni Gaudi, who was hit by a tram in Barcelona in 1926.

Though the significance and meaning of the architecture and geometry of the Basilica would amaze any tourist or pilgrim, it is the intangible that caught my eye, literally and figuratively.

In churches, stained glass windows usually tell biblical stories by setting them in colored panes that come to life when struck by light.  At the Basilica de Sagrada Familia, an 87-year old Spanish artist, named Joan Vila-Grau, created stained-glass windows that, when pierced by the rays of the sun, seem to peek through Mary’s veil.

The light brought in by the stained-glass windows is just enough because, according to Antoni Gaudi, “not too much light, nor too little for both things blind and the blind cannot see”.

After roaming the nave of the Basilica, I went to sit in front of the altar for a prayer. And as it was late afternoon, the sun from the west started its descent and blanketed the Basilica with illumination, and what I saw was a glimpse, not only of the triumph of art and architecture of Gaudi’s imagination and the prisms of the stained-glass windows, but also of the sun’s declaration of God’s presence inside this place of worship.

The explosion of colors and light was man’s attempt to reenact the first day of The Creation, the day when God created Light.  

As humans, we will never be able to imagine what happened when God declared “Let there be light!”, but inside the Basilica, the colors of fiery red, orange and yellow from one window to the colors of the skies of blue and the sea of green from another that painted the walls and columns were more than just a reminder of His presence in a world where man sometimes questions His existence. 

For me, even if I was witnessing an infinitesimal percentage of what happened on the First Day - even if it were the equivalent of one sand, just one grain of sand from all the beaches in the world - as a pilgrim and a human being, this was more than I could pray for. 

Since my experience at the Basilica de Sagrada Familia, I always appreciate seeing the stained-glass windows in every church I visit. When I see light coming into the church through the prism of the stained-glass windows, I see beyond the figures and the biblical stories they portray. As light floods the church, and the illumination and colors brighten it with the presence of God, we should always celebrate because we are not just part of his Creation; we are at the center of it.

Those stained-glass windows at churches are not mere decorations or windows through which light is let in. It is not just an artwork depicting a scene in the life of Jesus.

It is a glimpse of God’s Creation, a reminder that, even if our sense of sight may limit the light and colors that we see, all we need is our faith to believe He is with us.🙏

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This piece was published by the Adsum, the official publication of the Diocese of Bacolod, Negros Occidental, Philippines. 

(As originally published on the Jan. 19-25, 2020 issue of ADSUM Newsletter)

The Salesian Brotherhood and The Boys of Don Bosco

In 1825, when Saint John Bosco was just nine years old, he had a dream. 

In his dream, a man clothed in white and whose face was illuminated with blinding light told him to help the young with gentleness and love, and that this man's mother would guide the young Don Bosco in the work he was just given.

That 'work' has since spread all over the world and has touched millions of young lives. 

And some of those young lives molded by the teachings of Don Bosco are from an island in the Philippines, in a coastal town called Victorias, where a school bearing his name, was founded in 1952.

(Young Bosconians studying; the lad on the left with a book looks like the young Dr. Jay Eusebio)
(Photo credit: Victorias, A History in Pictures)

For almost 70 years, in the Don Bosco school in Victorias, the Salesian family has nurtured young minds following the congregation's motto "Da mihi animas, caetera tolle" (Give me souls, take away the rest), fostering a brotherhood that is strengthened both in faith and in virtue, taught by the saint and guided by Mary, the Help of Christians. 

(The altar at the Basilica of Mary, 

Help of Christians)

I belong to such brotherhood, a brotherhood that started in Turin, in an area now called Don Bosco Valdocco where I once roamed in a pilgrimage that led me to the room (read blog here) where Don Bosco spent his last days and ended up in a basilica he built in honor of the 'lady' (read blog here) who guided him in his 'work'.  And that 'work' is still being continued by the Salesians of Don Bosco in a congregation of 14,614 bishops, priests, brothers, novices, and seminarians in 133 countries and 1,915 Don Bosco houses, including the one in Victorias.

With millions of brothers as part of the Bosconian brotherhood all over the world, I have a few of mine. 

(They once marched together after finishing their studies at one of Don Bosco's schools in a continent far from Turin where it all started, but brought together by a saint whose dream was to give and shape a good future for boys like them.)

(Photo credit: Mr. Vic Alba, Jr.)

Because once upon a time, in our young lives, our paths crossed under the roof of Don Bosco's teachings and in the halls of learning where our minds were enriched, our characters molded, and our futures shaped by a saint and his work that all started with a dream.🙏

Saint John Bosco was born on August 16, 1815, and died on January 31, 1888, at 72.

(A Bosconian at Don Bosco Valdocco in Turin)

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