A very good friend of mine, from time to time, will talk about “cathedral builders” when describing people who begin a long, long project that they know someone else will have to continue and see forward. To build a cathedral requires more than materials and workmen and plans and resources. It requires an architect with vision and commitment and the ability to impart that vision and that devotion to completing the project to a future master builder. That’s how it was for just about all of the great cathedrals of Europe. To lay the foundation for a new cathedral is a beautiful act of faith.

I got to see something rare, at least I think it’s rare, and that is a cathedral in progress. Actually it is over a century into its progress and is scheduled to be completed in 2025. It’s called La Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, in Barcelona. Everyone who was alive on the planet when construction on Sagrada Familia began is dead, and the project continues. It was designed by the amazing Catalan modernist architect Antoni Gaudi and it is the most beautiful edifice I had ever had the pleasure to enter.

I lack the education to be able to say anything intelligent about Gaudi. I can say a little about the effect his work has on me, especially what he accomplished on Sagrada Familia. When it comes to My knowledge of architecture, I’ll quote another dear friend who has a wicked sense of humor and a appreciation for the insane,

“I don’t know what I like, but I know what art is”

Gaudi was at the height of his creative powers over a century ago. I’ve had the privilege of seeing some of his work and I’m bowled over at how modern and fresh and beautifully crafted it is. Gaudi was so far ahead of his time, that even today he would be on the cutting edge of architecture and maybe a little beyond. That’s a layman’s opinion, of course.

I’ll quit beating round the bush. Sagrada Familia is the most beautiful man made place I’ve ever seen. As I came out of the metro station the first thing I saw was the four bell towers dedicated to The apostles Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They are so pliant and undulating that they look as though they were molded out of clay by an enormous hand. I had learned my lesson about buying tickets ahead so I arrived on time and went in. Skipping the lines is so much fun.

The south portico is devoted to the nativity. It’s playful and sweet and joyful. Again there is a child like sweetness to the figures carved into the stone and their arrangement on structure. I laughed out loud from sheer delight as I gave the thing a really good look. All around me there was not a face that wasn’t smiling, and there were faces from every part of the world all sharing the moment.

On the opposite side is the portico devoted to the passion of Christ. It is bare and hard and designed from nothing but angles and planes. Just looking at it cuts your soul it is so jagged. It’s all about cruelty. A line from King Lear comes into my head,

“Howl, howl, howl, howl oh you are men of stone”

That line echoed through me with each new angle of view. Then I stepped inside.

Someone born without the sense of hearing, when seeing the interior of Sagrada Familia, would finally understand the concept of a “choir of angels”. The soaring columns of different shapes and types of stone branch apart near the high, high, ceiling like trees. The light streaming Coming in through the multicolored stained glass windows is modulated and soft throughout, and unfiltered and hard In the places Gaudi wants to draw attention, especially the area high above the altar where a circular window literally lets in light from heaven.

I can’t describe the whole place. It’s in motion, in progress, alive and changing. I could feel Gaudi’s faith in the place, catholic faith, Spanish faith that burns white hot and inspires artists to create something that has to be seen, and that fills you with a spiritual uplift whether or not you’re a believer. I found myself sitting, looking up at the figure of a crucified Christ floating above the altar and below the heavenly light and The thoughts in my head, the ongoing stream of ideas that are forever flowing through me as they do though every living person, began to modulate into prayer. I sat a long time.

I’m not saying that a visit to Sagrada Familia will restore ones faith in God. What it did for me, was restore my faith in the faithful.