Homecoming in Leon

Two Leo 8s strolling the town of Lions (Leon). It's difficult not to feel like we're coming home to a place we've always belonged. Gaudi's first building is here - Casa Botines - and the Cathedral is a majestic and mystical wonder.

I've never entered a space and felt what the Cathedral summoned within me. These pictures simply do not convey the feeling that this container of faith evokes. The ceillings are so impossibly high and the arches undulate from our feet to stained glass above our heads, casting invisible colors across the dull grey sand stones. Most of the churches we've visited have been about political power - conveying it to others that you have some special relationship with God or that you are so wealthy you've built this temple - but the Cathedral in Leon is different. This Cathedral is a giant middle finger to all the things those in power obsess about. This Cathedral reminds you of how impossibly large God is and how much mystery there is in faith and how small we are in the scheme of that story and yet, lest you think this is intended to humiliate you, it is your story because it is exists for you. I find myself thinking of Meister Eckhart:

To be full of things is to be empty of God.
To be empty of things is to be full of God.

In these vast empty spaces there is an invitation to invite God to speak and to attune your heart to listen.

I am thankful for what I heard this afternoon.Read more