The actual pilgrimage
There were multiple people that showed interest in the pilgrimage, some for the plenary indulgence and others for the indulgence portion of it. But, like many times, other invitations, the early departure time, or whatever got in the way. It ended up being just the three of us, John McCave, Juana Aguilar and myself. Since Vina is a 3-hour drive away from Modesto, we needed to leave St. Joseph's by 6 AM at the very latest. There was no way that we could do, as Father Mark had originally wanted, to make it to the monastery in time for morning mass, as the mass with the monks is at 6:30 AM. I have been having problems sleeping, so waking up at 4:30 AM to meet at the church at 5:30 AM wasn't a problem, but to leave before 3:30? Wow! Maybe at some point some of us can go on retreat there, both of the others mentioning now wanting to do so, so being awake at 6:30 AM won't be as difficult. We were going to able to make it in time to chant morning prayer with them, as that begins every day at 9:05 AM.
The 3 of us hopped into John's truck and started the dark, three-hour drive north. Juana wasn't awake for long, since she was up until past midnight the night before studying, so John and I spent the drive talking about anything and everything. We past through first the construction by Stockton and then the tule fog north of Stockton and especially to the north of Sacramento. It was really quite beautiful as we could see the taller buildings and tree poking out over the top of the fog. The trip past remarkably quickly.
Arriving, we were not exactly sure what to do or where to go, as none of us had been there before. It is one thing to read about the place online, it is totally different to actually be there. Luckily, multiple people that we ran into were very helpful. The first helping us to find where we could park, and then to where the church was for morning prayer. We headed towards the the Chapter House, made out the Sacred Stones. After reading the description and the history of the stones, we noticed that it was almost 9 AM, so we tried to figure out where the church was. We would save looking at the Chapter House until later. It seemed liked the entrance was on the other side of a hedge, so we walked towards the end to walk around. When we got to the end, we saw a sign that said that only the monks could pass. Now, we were truly confused. Luckily, a man on retreat (turns out that he has been there for a month already), pointed us in the right direction, right back down the path where we were.
The man was very helpful, as he helped us not only to get to the church, but also helped us figure out where to sit inside, where the books with the words were, and more. Chanting with the monks was very rewarding. I recorded it, and had to combine the recording with the photos taken in order to share it. You can view/listen by clicking on the link below.
After morning prayer, we took a small tour around the church before walking towards the visitors' center. We weren't at all rushed, since we had nothing specific scheduled throughout the day until 3 PM. We took our time, looking at the area around the monastery.
We finally ended up at the visitors' center. I was expecting something much larger than what we found. It was really one small room attached to an even smaller office labeled "Guestmaster's office". The Guestmaster was not in, so we visited the even smaller bookstore. Each of the three of us happily spent quite a while in the bookstore touching and reviewing almost each and every one of the books. Behind the office, there was the St. Cecilia Chapel with a koi pond between the two. We couldn't miss out of a visit to the chapel. One of my favorite photos of the entire day was of John reading after we came out of the chapel. The colors were very vibrant, with the red of his hair, the burgundy color of his sweater, and the leaves above his head.
Some of the pictures we snapped from the church, from our walk, and from the chapel are below the video below this text.
Click here for more about the day.
The 3 of us hopped into John's truck and started the dark, three-hour drive north. Juana wasn't awake for long, since she was up until past midnight the night before studying, so John and I spent the drive talking about anything and everything. We past through first the construction by Stockton and then the tule fog north of Stockton and especially to the north of Sacramento. It was really quite beautiful as we could see the taller buildings and tree poking out over the top of the fog. The trip past remarkably quickly.
Arriving, we were not exactly sure what to do or where to go, as none of us had been there before. It is one thing to read about the place online, it is totally different to actually be there. Luckily, multiple people that we ran into were very helpful. The first helping us to find where we could park, and then to where the church was for morning prayer. We headed towards the the Chapter House, made out the Sacred Stones. After reading the description and the history of the stones, we noticed that it was almost 9 AM, so we tried to figure out where the church was. We would save looking at the Chapter House until later. It seemed liked the entrance was on the other side of a hedge, so we walked towards the end to walk around. When we got to the end, we saw a sign that said that only the monks could pass. Now, we were truly confused. Luckily, a man on retreat (turns out that he has been there for a month already), pointed us in the right direction, right back down the path where we were.
The man was very helpful, as he helped us not only to get to the church, but also helped us figure out where to sit inside, where the books with the words were, and more. Chanting with the monks was very rewarding. I recorded it, and had to combine the recording with the photos taken in order to share it. You can view/listen by clicking on the link below.
After morning prayer, we took a small tour around the church before walking towards the visitors' center. We weren't at all rushed, since we had nothing specific scheduled throughout the day until 3 PM. We took our time, looking at the area around the monastery.
We finally ended up at the visitors' center. I was expecting something much larger than what we found. It was really one small room attached to an even smaller office labeled "Guestmaster's office". The Guestmaster was not in, so we visited the even smaller bookstore. Each of the three of us happily spent quite a while in the bookstore touching and reviewing almost each and every one of the books. Behind the office, there was the St. Cecilia Chapel with a koi pond between the two. We couldn't miss out of a visit to the chapel. One of my favorite photos of the entire day was of John reading after we came out of the chapel. The colors were very vibrant, with the red of his hair, the burgundy color of his sweater, and the leaves above his head.
Some of the pictures we snapped from the church, from our walk, and from the chapel are below the video below this text.
Click here for more about the day.