[In Catalan:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord,
"This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn
or weep. … The joy of the Lord is your strength" (Neh
8:9-11). With these words from the first reading
that we have proclaimed, I wish to greet all of you
taking part in this celebration. I extend an
affectionate greeting to their Majesties the King
and Queen of Spain who have graciously wished to be
with us. I extend a thankful greeting to Cardinal
Lluís Martínez Sistach, Archbishop of Barcelona, for
his words of welcome and for his invitation to me to
dedicate this Church of the Sagrada Familia, a
magnificent achievement of engineering, art and
faith. I also greet Cardinal Ricardo María Carles
Gordó, Archbishop Emeritus of Barcelona, the other
Cardinals present and my brother bishops, especially
the auxiliary bishop of this local church, and the
many priests, deacons, seminarians, religious men
and women, and lay faithful taking part in this
solemn ceremony. I also extend a respectful greeting
to the national, regional and local authorities
present, as well as to the members of other
Christian communities, who share in our joy and our
grateful praise of God.
[In Spanish]
Today marks an important step in a long history of
hope, work and generosity that has gone on for more
than a century. At this time I would like to mention
each and every one of those who have made possible
the joy that fills us today, from the promoters to
the executors of this work, the architects and the
workers, all who in one way or another have given
their priceless contribution to the building of this
edifice. We remember of course the man who was the
soul and the artisan of this project, Antoni Gaudí,
a creative architect and a practising Christian who
kept the torch of his faith alight to the end of his
life, a life lived in dignity and absolute
austerity. This event is also in a certain sense the
high point of the history of this land of Catalonia
which, especially since the end of the nineteenth
century, has given an abundance of saints and
founders, martyrs and Christian poets. It is a
history of holiness, artistic and poetic creation,
born from the faith, which we gather and present to
God today as an offering in this Eucharist.
The joy which I feel at presiding at this ceremony
became all the greater when I learned that this
shrine, since its beginnings, has had a special
relationship with Saint Joseph. I have been moved
above all by Gaudí's confidence when, in the face of
many difficulties, filled with trust in divine
Providence, he would exclaim, "Saint Joseph will
finish this church". So it is significant that it is
also being dedicated by a Pope whose baptismal name
is Joseph.
What do we do when we dedicate this church? In the
heart of the world, placed before God and mankind,
with a humble and joyful act of faith, we raise up
this massive material structure, fruit of nature and
an immense achievement of human intelligence which
gave birth to this work of art. It stands as a
visible sign of the invisible God, to whose glory
these spires rise like arrows pointing towards
absolute light and to the One who is Light, Height
and Beauty itself.
In this place, Gaudí desired to unify that
inspiration which came to him from the three books
which nourished him as a man, as a believer and as
an architect: the book of nature, the book of sacred
Scripture and the book of the liturgy. In this way
he brought together the reality of the world and the
history of salvation, as recounted in the Bible and
made present in the liturgy. He made stones, trees
and human life part of the church so that all
creation might come together in praise of God, but
at the same time he brought the sacred images
outside so as to place before people the mystery of
God revealed in the birth, passion, death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. In this way, he
brilliantly helped to build our human consciousness,
anchored in the world yet open to God, enlightened
and sanctified by Christ. In this he accomplished
one of the most important tasks of our times:
overcoming the division between human consciousness
and Christian consciousness, between living in this
temporal world and being open to eternal life,
between the beauty of things and God as beauty.
Antoni Gaudí did this not with words but with
stones, lines, planes, and points. Indeed, beauty is
one of mankind's greatest needs; it is the root from
which the branches of our peace and the fruits of
our hope come forth. Beauty also reveals God
because, like him, a work of beauty is pure
gratuity; it calls us to freedom and draws us away
from selfishness.
We have dedicated this sacred space to God, who
revealed and gave himself to us in Christ so as to
be definitively God among men. The revealed Word,
the humanity of Christ and his Church are the three
supreme expressions of his self-manifestation and
self-giving to mankind. As says Saint Paul in the
second reading: "Let each man take care how he
builds. For no other foundation can anyone lay than
that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Cor
3:10-11). The Lord Jesus is the stone which supports
the weight of the world, which maintains the
cohesion of the Church and brings together in
ultimate unity all the achievements of mankind. In
him, we have God's word and presence and from him
the Church receives her life, her teaching and her
mission. The Church of herself is nothing; she is
called to be the sign and instrument of Christ, in
pure docility to his authority and in total service
to his mandate. The one Christ is the foundation of
the one Church. He is the rock on which our faith is
built. Building on this faith, let us strive
together to show the world the face of God who is
love and the only one who can respond to our
yearning for fulfilment. This is the great task
before us: to show everyone that God is a God of
peace not of violence, of freedom not of coercion,
of harmony not of discord. In this sense, I consider
that the dedication of this church of the Sagrada
Familia is an event of great importance, at a time
in which man claims to be able to build his life
without God, as if God had nothing to say to him. In
this masterpiece, Gaudí shows us that God is the
true measure of man; that the secret of authentic
originality consists, as he himself said, in
returning to one's origin which is God. Gaudí, by
opening his spirit to God, was capable of creating
in this city a space of beauty, faith and hope which
leads man to an encounter with him who is truth and
beauty itself. The architect expressed his
sentiments in the following words: "A church [is]
the only thing worthy of representing the soul of a
people, for religion is the most elevated reality in
man".
This affirmation of God brings with it the supreme
affirmation and protection of the dignity of each
and every man and woman: "Do you not know that you
are God's temple? … God's temple is holy, and you
are that temple" (1 Cor 3:16-17). Here we find
joined together the truth and dignity of God and the
truth and dignity of man. As we consecrate the altar
of this church, which has Christ as its foundation,
we are presenting to the world a God who is the
friend of man and we invite men and women to become
friends of God. This is what we are taught in the
case of Zacchaeus, of whom today's gospel speaks (Lk
19:1-10), if we allow God into our hearts and into
our world, if we allow Christ to live in our hearts,
we will not regret it: we will experience the joy of
sharing his very life, as the object of his infinite
love.
This church began as an initiative of the
Association of the Friends of Saint Joseph, who
wanted to dedicate it to the Holy Family of
Nazareth. The home formed by Jesus, Mary and Joseph
has always been regarded as a school of love, prayer
and work. The promoters of this church wanted to set
before the world love, work and service lived in the
presence of God, as the Holy Family lived them. Life
has changed greatly and with it enormous progress
has been made in the technical, social and cultural
spheres. We cannot simply remain content with these
advances. Alongside them, there also need to be
moral advances, such as in care, protection and
assistance to families, inasmuch as the generous and
indissoluble love of a man and a woman is the
effective context and foundation of human life in
its gestation, birth, growth and natural end. Only
where love and faithfulness are present can true
freedom come to birth and endure. For this reason
the Church advocates adequate economic and social
means so that women may find in the home and at work
their full development, that men and women who
contract marriage and form a family receive decisive
support from the state, that life of children may be
defended as sacred and inviolable from the moment of
their conception, that the reality of birth be given
due respect and receive juridical, social and
legislative support. For this reason the Church
resists every form of denial of human life and gives
its support to everything that would promote the
natural order in the sphere of the institution of
the family.
As I contemplate with admiration this sacred space
of marvellous beauty, of so much faith-filled
history, I ask God that in the land of Catalonia new
witnesses of holiness may rise up and flourish, and
present to the world the great service that the
Church can and must offer to humanity: to be an icon
of divine beauty, a burning flame of charity, a path
so that the world may believe in the One whom God
has sent (cf. Jn 6:29).
Dear brothers and sisters, as I dedicate this
splendid church, I implore the Lord of our lives
that, from this altar, which will now be anointed
with holy oil and upon which the sacrifice of the
love of Christ will be consumed, there may be a
flood of grace and charity upon the city of
Barcelona and its people, and upon the whole world.
May these fruitful waters fill with faith and
apostolic vitality this archdiocesan Church, its
pastors and its faithful.
[In Catalan:]
Finally, I wish to commend to the loving protection
of the Mother of God, Mary Most Holy, April Rose,
Mother of Mercy, all who enter here and all who in
word or deed, in silence and prayer, have made this
possible this marvel of architecture. May Our Lady
present to her divine Son the joys and tribulations
of all who come in the future to this sacred place
so that here, as the Church prays when dedicating
religious buildings, the poor may find mercy, the
oppressed true freedom and all men may take on the
dignity of the children of God. Amen.
© Copyright 2010 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
"Beauty ... Calls Us to Freedom and Draws Us Away From Selfishness"
