Then we were drawn to the Mother and Child chapel, and it was so pretty (and covered with donor names). The statue is of Mary and Jesus as a young child, which you don’t see often. I thought it was really sweet. And, I lit a candle for reuniting with one of my children and continued improvement for the other one. Why not.
Then we wandered into the main building, which has so many impressive things it’s hard to name them all. I’ll just put in a bunch of pictures. We did get lots of enlightening information from the docent, who told us all about each piece of art and the things they do at the church.
They’re installing a new pipe organ soon, so the main church is a bit bare. I can see that it will be amazing once installed. And speaking of amazing, the Day Chapel is perhaps my favorite worship area ever (and I’ve seen European cathedrals!). It’s all BLUE, because the stained glass is a representation of the Universe. Wow.
After we dragged ourselves out of there, we walked the pilgrimage path and looked at all the stations of the cross, as well as at the lovely plants and animals. I enjoyed seeing gray squirrels and even more lizards than we saw at the resort.
Finally we went to the gift shop, which would be a Catholic person’s paradise. There were beautiful statues, holy water holders, books, and so much more. It was all quite lovely, and I especially liked the memorial plaques they had for departed pets. I’d like to make one for our pet memorial area like the ones I saw.
I just ended up getting a St. Brigid’s medal, because I always wanted one, while Anita filled up gaps in her Mary statue collection.
We were there way too long, which annoyed Lee, but we had no idea how nice it was going to be! If you are ever in the area, especially if that’s your faith, it is well worth a visit. They cover the whole place in roses on Mother’s Day. Wow.
