“The building has neither plans nor official blueprint. “Step by step and with my own family resources, I have been raising this building,” Don Just wrote in a sign posted at the door of the cathedral to explain his project to visitors. While recovering he returned to the town of his birth and it is here that began his extraordinary project which he dedicated to Our Lady of Pilar.
The structure is a labour of love and devotion that Don Justo, as he was known locally, began in 1961 after a bout of tuberculosis forced him to leave an order of Trappist monks at a monastery in Soria. There are comparisons with Spain’s other more famous unfinished basilica – Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, and in fact Justo’s cathedral by coincidence stands on a street called Avenida Antoni Gaudi. Shards of coloured glass are transformed into stained glass windows, mosaics formed by shattered tiles rescued from building sites decorate uneven stairs and above the skeleton of a copula rises above the altar, still open to the sky.Ĭolumns made from oil drums and worn down car tires support the unfinished cloisters and the walls are painted with frescoes depicting religious scenes such as the Last Supper, while misshapen busts of the disciples stare eerily down from their pedestals within the crypt. Photo from crowdfunding campaign onemancathedral. This shows that when Jesus is tempted and feels he is in a difficult situation, he looks to God’s word for guidance.Archive image of Don Justo in his cathedral. Jesus responds to each temptation with a quotation from the Old Testamentīook of Deuteronomy. However, Jesus showed that his idea of a Messiah was not one who had political power but one who put God’s kingdom first. “Bow down and worship me” – This temptation tested Jesus’ devotion to God and also his desire for political power.This question was an important one for Jesus to deal with because he would be faced with it again and again as people questioned his identity and authority. But it also asked Jesus to prove that he was the Messiah and that God really cared for him. Again, the challenge to Jesus was to misuse his power. On this one occasion the Devil himself quoted scripture. “Throw yourself down” – Jesus was told to throw himself from the highest point of the temple.This shows that he is not concerned with material things but with spiritual food given by God.
Jesus denied himself the opportunity to satisfy his hunger, even though he had been fasting for forty days and nights.
“Tell these stones to become bread” – The first dilemma which Jesus faced was how to use his miraculous power, whether to use it for selfish reasons or to help others.The three temptations which Matthew records give an insight into the issues that Jesus was wrestling with during his forty days in the wilderness: A stained glass window depicting the temptation of Christ Understanding the text
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