Holy Family - The Sagrada Familia

Church of the Magdalen - Fr. Derek Thome - Year C Photo Credit (https://www.archdaily.com/438992/ad-classics-la-sagrada-familia-antoni-gaudi) Opening the doors you encounter an awe such as maybe you have never experienced before in your lifetime. Walking in, you  ask what makes the place hold up? Everything behind this grand experience, even the words  echoing throughout this chamber, lead you to a realization of something new within your own heart and mind, a pondering of what exists behind even the visible realm. The physics. Truth that exists without being explicitly stated. Looking around at the art, the ornamentation, even the smell and the sounds of the place immerse you in a beauty that's almost otherworldly. And the further you step into the heart of this place, when you consume this otherworldly mystery, you are touched by a goodness, that follows you when you leave this place, and your body, your mind, your whole being is still riveted by the experience. still riveted by the experience. Begun March 19th, 1882 this place is yet to be finished, it’s incomplete. But this place where millions have visited, gives us a metaphor for what we celebrate as a church today, the Sagrada Familia, the Holy Family. Because this physical structure in Barcelona Spain, that is still not complete, that is rattled with dust, debt, and delays, describes our own families and homes. Because the family is a place that takes building up. And when we acknowledge that everything is under construction, this incompleteness no longer limits us, but allows us to see the potential, the promising future. For as John says in our second reading today “although we are God's children now what we shall be has not yet been revealed.” Just as when one lays the foundations of a building, they can only imagine what that building will become, so too we see the marvel of the foundations laid down for us by God yesterday. That salvation broke into the world, that light dwelt amongst darkness, and upon that foundation, God has chosen the human family, not just Mary and Joseph, but all of us, as the first place to recognize the richness of this covenant of new life. So where do we start as a family, as husband and wife, mother and father, and children alike to create a model home? A Sagrada Familia, a holy family? a “dwelling place that our soul yearns and pines for” as our psalmist says today, “where our heart and our flesh will cry out for the living God,”? We have to follow the plans laid out for us, utilize the tools we have been given, and build it with the bond of perfection – great love. The plans. We can only receive the plans by presenting ourselves and our children to the Lord, like Hannah did Samuel. And as Mary and Joseph did to Jesus in the temple. Here we acknowledge the architect, God Himself, who created the family and has called us to live out his plan in a unique way. If we choose to be our own architect, then the building, the family will no longer coalesce, come together, and converge. But if we begin by recognizing the different but meaningful responsibilities and chores of daily life, kids included, that each member has, then all of us become contractors of the Lord. Yet we have to read the same blueprint - truth. Following Jesus Christ who is the truth, comes not simply in what is conveyed through homilies, or that is taught in our schools, and parish school of religion, but through the will of God placed on our heart in prayer, and ultimately by putting this truth into practice. These are the physics of what holds the family together, and the truth that allows all who enter the threshold of our home to find meaning and grandeur. Secondly, we have to use the tools that we have been given, and if we use them well, a beautiful home will emerge. A beautiful home is one that is filled with the decor of our individual gifts... [email protected] for full text