The Great Western Pilgrimage - Part Twelve...you know me...I like 13

The middle of a very long day...

Whew! We were at Santa Clara early in the morning because we needed to press on...there was an entire city to see!

First stop, the National Shrine of Saint Francis of Assisi. Our goal was confession and after the appointed hour had past...and the following ten minutes...dh was able to rouse a sweet little Franciscan  Capuchin (why not a Franciscan?) from the rectory to clean our souls. He took his time, mainly because he was quite deaf, but it was ok. We needed some down time before we continued our journey. In the meantime, we were able to walk around, pray at the various altars, and relax. We were also supposed to see a scaled replica of Saint Francis's Porziuncola in Assisi but after searching for Father, I totally forgot!

I was kind of amazed to find the beautiful church open!

St. Anne and little boy :0)

St. Clare watching over us

In San Francisco...across from the shrine :0)

 Done with our mini-retreat, we headed back into traffic. It's funny how the Holy Spirit works. I had "Lombard Street" on the itinerary but we were running behind so I skipped it. Of course, little eyes were reading the sheet the whole trip so it didn't surprise me to hear "Isn't that the street you wanted to see?" and down we went. The pictures don't really do it justice. It is the silliest street ever.

 

Rice-A-Roni ;0)

from the top!

There were many garages off this crazy/crooked street. Who would want to live here? People are always outside your house taking pictures!

curves

mover curves

and again

sidewalk/stairs

Alcatraz from the bottom

Time for lunch! Where do tourists go but Chinatown or Fisherman's' Wharf? We chose the latter. I needed, and got, a sweet plate of oysters.

How can he concentrate next to ALL.THAT.BREAD???

Boudin's is obvious tourist trap but education is all around you - learn to make sourdough!

It's a working bread factory. Smelled YUM.

The balls rolled down the spiral

and came out as baguettes!

There was also a restaurant so, tourists we, the kids indulged in some clam chowder and sweet little sourdough turtle bowls!

She refused to eat her new friend

There were even more friends downstairs. The crabs were so cute.

Bellies full, we were off to find more religious happenings. We missed Mass (and had gone that morning) but wanted very much to see Star of the Sea Catholic Church. This parish has undergone a recent renewal. They have a pastor who decided to go completely "old school" as some would call it - all-male altar servers, High and Low Mass in Extraordinary Form on Sundays and Ad Orientem on week days. They have a 24-hour Adoration chapel, process through the streets (of San Francisco!), regularly attend the 40 Days for Life vigil (with the pastor!) and do all sorts of other wonderful things to give Glory to God.

I was interested to see this parish because I've been told "you won't find that anywhere anymore" and yet, here it was. We ducked in for Adoration and, as always, were greatly rewarded. First, the church was stunning. The Marian devotion could not be missed (can you say, "CATHOLIC") and during Adoration, it was refreshing to see people there, in the middle of the day, just being with Our Lord.

Good to pass a middle-name street on the way ;0)

It was so pretty, I snuck a picture. It's much prettier in person!

After about 10 minutes of Adoration, I noticed a sweet little Vietnamese lady sitting next to me, trying to have a conversation (she's a non-native speaker and we were both trying to be quiet) She, herself had eight children who were all educated at the school and, sadly, are all away from the faith now so, would we pray for them and her? She was so pleased to see our kids with us, she said, and it's Vietnamese New Year so would it be ok if she gave each of the children a card? (this is tradition, she said). We graciously accepted the beautiful cards and she made her way out of the pew.

When we returned to our car, the kids were told what happened and they opened their beautiful cards

Each card contained a $5 bill! They (I think most of them, I can guess which did not) carried them to the next Mission where they were deposited into the poor box. How lovely of that woman to be so kind to strangers. What a great experience to learn about the people of different cultures who live around that amazing parish. Please, when you read this and when you remember, pray for Lucy and her children. (I emailed the pastor, with whom I had been in contact before our trip, and he said, "That's probably Lucy, she is a good soul." Praise God that she would seek the Holy Spirit in her dark time and welcome strangers...good soul, indeed!

Well, night is falling here and we still aren't done with San Fran. No wonder we were so tired when we got home! Next installment, lucky #13 and the final of the trip. Promise!

We are blessed.