Pope Francis described the planet as a "common home", a house that humanity has to look after. In the same way, the Josefa House is like a ferryman who encourages our societies to leave a land of fear and cross over to a land of trust and "faith" (the "anthropological faith"), that is, to decide that welcoming the other is filled with the promise of a greater good, and that this promise will be fulfilled despite the dangers and suffering endured along the way, in line with the goals for our Common Home …

Besides, do religion and spirituality not have in common some universal humanist principles, such as the Golden Rule, which prescribes treating others as one would wish to be treated?

Accordingly, it would seem essential to create spaces in order to "compensate" for the lack of places, in our society, where one can openly and freely cultivate the spiritual dimension of his or her life, without the restraints imposed by a religion or a particular doctrine. Within the Josefa House, the space of interiority appears as a place of creative excitement where everyone, speaker or participant, can contribute to the exploration of a major issue: what spiritual, personal and community life, for today and for tomorrow?

In order to complete this "search" for meaning, the Josefa House must grant each person the time necessary to connect with the atmospheric elements of the space and undoubtedly avoid arriving straight into an unwelcoming area: one must cross a protective barrier before reaching the "sacred" space. Thanks to the use of lighting, we can show the invisible and "touch people’s hearts". The space within the Josefa House intentionally lends itself to meditation: "humans listen to the voice of natural or supernatural elements, decipher their breath and their essence".

We need to imagine a space and time that could affect people and awaken them to their own spirituality, through the sheer size and beauty of the space itself. The outward expression of the meaning of the spiritual experience will allow people to sense the challenge of trusting in the Other. Art, an authentic and necessary presence, is not at all provocative: it lends itself to open contemplation.

It is clear that within the Josefa House, the artist and the architect will find an opportunity to complete their creation through the paradoxical experience of interiority: the work on the spaces and time will lead to the deepening of human experiences, with the potential to revitalize the creative genius in each person.

My words may seem rather banal, considering that the relationship between art and faith (in the spiritual sense) has long been discussed. Perhaps we should keep mentioning it today so as to contribute to a renewal of our conscience and advance our working for peace? To encourage (religious) institutions to develop a selfless, but open, dialogue, with the creators of today, and even with those who profess to not having any "faith" or spiritual experiences.

In a sometimes paradoxical way, the Josefa approach is derived from a concern with cooperation and dialogue in otherness, between the migrant and the artist, all searching, somehow or other, for a creative experience much like an aesthetic unveiling. Provided they were offered a time and a space: this is the essence of the Josefa proposal. Humans have something to gain by looking for "the divine presence" within and around them. By looking at human beings and their representations of the world, the artist has the possibility of encouraging or even revealing the experience of the "divine". It seems to us that the "God who gives himself", "the Other who migrates among us", cannot but like this paradoxical nature of the work of art and interiority, this presence of the spirit, in the desired sensitive appearances of the House of Peace that the Josefa House dreams about in its interiority.