Building Cathedrals

It was announced recently, that after 140 years of construction Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia Cathedral is nearing completion. Gaudi designed the cathedral to have almost no straight lines, to be a thing of radical beauty, to push the boundaries of what a place of worship could be and how it might inspire awe and worship. The construction of its great Jesus Spire is expected to be completed in 2026, a hundred years after Gaudi’s death. Gaudi will not see his finished masterpiece; it existed only in his mind. He could envisage it and believe in its final completion when all that existed was a stone foundation and a few odd-looking spindly spires. 

This reminds me of the work of the Holy Spirit in us. We are called by Jesus the “Temple” (or cathedral) of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is constantly working in us to refine and grow and perfect us until we become the person God envisages when He looks at us. God knows who we will be when transformed by Him.  

As we look back over the past academic year, I hope we can discern, like footprints in the sand, the way the Holy Spirit has walked with us, or like clay in the potter’s hand, the way the Holy Spirit has been moulding us to become the people God intends us to be.  

Because of the social interactions our students have experienced this year, those chances where they had an opportunity to be kind or encouraging or patient and they acted upon it; those times when they stood up for someone, or reminded someone of God’s love or God’s best will for them, they have grown a tiny bit more like Jesus. 

Because of the learning they have done this year, they are able to read with better understanding, solve more complex problems, argue more convincingly, see depth and patterns and nuance in texts. The students can understand with greater clarity the rules which God has established in creation which reflect his ordered and rational mind. They know more about what it means to be human and the story of humanity. Our students can create art, music, textiles, and food with greater skill; they have learned new physical skills and stretched themselves with harder challenges, physical and mental. Our students amaze us with their progress, their capacity to learn and grow. Like Gaudi’s cathedral, the process of becoming all we can be takes a long time, (perhaps 140 years). It is a privilege to be a part of that journey, helping to lay the foundation and looking forward to the finished temples God is creating. 

Philippians 1:3-6 

I thank my God every time I remember you.

In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy

because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,

being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Angela Landy

Head of Academic Culture