Whispers of Christ

“The chief purpose of man is to glorify God, to bear His image, and reveal the truth about Him to the watching world.” – The Westminster Shorter Catechism

I recently had the pleasure of going to Europe with my husband. In a word, it was incredible. We visited Lisbon, Portugal; Madrid and Barcelona, Spain; and Rome, Italy. While it’s safe to say that I have more to say than I can put in this one post. The place that I feel led to tell you about the most is La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain.

Paco, my husband, and I have a deal that when we travel, he gets to plan everything. I work as an Administrative Assistant. This means that I spend Monday – Friday planning other people’s travel. By the time I get home, I have little to no interest in planning travel for myself. He accordingly planned the entire trip to Europe, and I was not disappointed by any means.

When we got to our hotel in Barcelona, we could see the basilica from our balcony. For your reference, it was not within walking distance. We had to take two separate subway lines to get to the location. When we arrived, I had to crane my neck to see the top of the spires which were still being created.

I wish that I could tell you everything that I saw within the basilica, but there is so much. I could talk about the beauty of it for the rest of my life, but it would be lost and wasted without you understanding all the analogies behind it. The problem is where do I want to start?

I know!

Here’s what I want to talk about- Gaudi. The original architect. One man who started a work which is still under construction and impactful today. He believed several things which is why he did what he did:

1. God should be available to any man, no matter of education or riches. to this end, he created the basilica to have the entire of Christ in statues and alcoves on the outside of the basilica. When you go to enter it, the first scenes you see are of the Nativity story, the flight to Egypt, the teaching of Christ in the temple as a child. When you exit the basilica, you see depictions of the crucifixion of Christ. The part which is still in progress is the glory of Christ (his works on this earth).
2. Man need only look at nature to understand and see God. To this end, he integrated nature into all of his work. Down to beetles and butterflies on the front doors. All of the animals in his carvings were based on real animals, the interior of the basilica is made to mimic a forest.
3. No detail was too small for him. He believed that 7.5 was the number closest to divine perfection that a human could attain. Accordingly, all the measurements within the basilica are multiplications of 7.5. The star for Mary’s spire is 7.5 meters in diameter. The height of the basilica is 165 meters tall. The interior is 60 meters across. All of these are divisible by 7.5.
4. He funded the basilica itself. While he was originally hired and did have a budget at the beginning of the project, it eventually ran out. From that point on, he went house to house and took donations to make this project a realization. He also lived like a pauper in order to put any funds he had back into the city. His house is on site.
5. He wanted everyone to know Christ. On the door leading to the exit of the basilica, he had The Lord’s Prayer inscribed in every known language of man.

Unfortunately, Gaudi died prior to seeing his project’s completion. It’s still under construction! He was run over by a cart and taken to a hospital where he was luckily recognized by a friend. He was then returned by the city, at this time he had passed away to the basilica and laid to rest beneath it. The story is that he left alone on Friday but on Sunday, the entire city turned out to his funeral.

Gaudi’s work in the basilica will never be forgotten but here is where I stand amazed. While his work was incredible, this one man did such an amazing job magnifying and glorifying God in his work that to this day, when you take the tour, the guides speak of his work, but every sentence is a reference to Christ’s life and work. You cannot tour the basilica without hearing the Gospel story. It brought me to tears. Thousands of people tour this landmark every week, month, and year. They have done for over 100 years! One man, Gaudi, inspired by God, created this work and the story of Christ is being told to thousands because of it.

I came away asking myself:

• What have I done that has magnified Christ?
• If I left today, would there be a legacy pointing people to Christ?

Which is where God met me and said, start writing a blog again. He is good.