The Great Western Pilgrimage - Part Eight

Sunday morning! Up, breakfast, checkout then head North to San Juan Capistrano which is a city, a Mission, and a huge Basilica. We attended morning Mass, took a look around, and met the brother and sister-in-law of dear friends back home. So nice that the Catholic family extends around the globe.

It was interesting to compare the simplicity of the original Missions to the grandeur of this basilica. Makes you wonder if it's all necessary or even reasonable. But then, I've never been a cathedral kind of person. Yes, it's beautiful but God is present, no matter where the Mass takes place.

They had sketches of all the missions along the back walls. That was pretty cool.

People who know people in PA ;0)

Time to step back in history a bit. Mission San Juan Capistrano was the 7th of the 9 original Missions founded by St. Junipero Serra on November 1, 1776. Kind of mind-blowing to me that the East coast was in the midst of the American Revolution and St. Serra, on behalf of Spain, was walking up and down the wilds of California, trying to get a foothold for the Catholic faith.

If you haven't studied the Missions, it's a great read of Catholic and American history. This particular church was destroyed in the great earthquake of 1812 and Spain started forgetting about the Missions about that time. Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821 and took over the Missions. America won the Mexican-American war in 1848 and the land was ceded to the US. California is named a state in 1850 and the Catholics want the Missions back so in time, Abraham Lincoln granted their request, turning the control of the Missions back to the Catholic Church. Whew.

At that point, artists and artisans contributed to restoring many of the Missions, at least those that could be refurbished and had the funding. San Juan Capistrano has a beautiful Serra Chapel and St. Peregrine Chapel on the original site.

fruit trees as shrubbery...brilliant

the bells among the ruins

ruins

Not entirely dissimilar to the one in the basilica ;0)

The rest of the day was supposed to be touring Los Angeles since it was the only time we would be in the area. We got a call prior to leaving the basilica that, indeed, the good Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles would be around and able to meet with us.

These beautiful Sisters were an amazing blessing. To see their life, hear about their charism, meet many of the Sisters, old and young was a treasure. Our guide, Sister Mary Joanne, gave such a testament to faith when she told the story of changing orders because her previous order had dropped the practice of wearing the habit and she saw that as such a fundamental part of her vocation - a visible witness of sacrifice for Christ. She and I had a wonderful discussion about being "out there" in your vocation - be it in a habit or tooling around with five (or many more) kids in tow. God can even find solidarity between a mother and a professed Sister.

Venerable Mother Luisita, founder. Pretty amazing story, read it HERE

Sister took us to see the Rosary walk...I want one!

Rarely seen statue of St. Raphael in the chapel :0)

Sister was so kind to take time to answer all of our questions.

Well, if you look at my photo folder that says "Los Angeles" you've seen all six! We had planned to go into the city proper but time with the nuns passed quickly and we stayed much longer than we had intended. I'm not sure anyone was unhappy with that choice.  Time with God and His servants on Earth is always well-spent.

On our way back to the hotel, we imagined pulling up to the pier in Santa Monica, strolling out, and having dinner somewhere. Turns out Sunday night in Southern California is extremely busy! After waiting in line for almost an hour to travel two blocks, dh was kind enough to snatch a photo of the dear Saint, one to whom I spend a great deal of time praying for strength and perseverence, and we headed back to the hotel. A good plan since we found a sweet Irish pub a few blocks away to sit, relax, and catch up on the Olympics.

If you look in the middle, left third of the photo, you can see the Hollywood sign. That's a close as we got!

Sing along with me...although the sun was going down, not coming up.

Beautiful day, Amazing Saint. May she touch the hearts of some of those that pass by her humming Sheryl Crow and intercede for the grace they need to face their trials.

 

So ends another day in California. We were beginning to see why people are drawn...the sun and the beautiful surrounds...and we were being drawn as well - to walk further along the path with Saint Serra.
We are blessed.