05.16.06
Overview of my Third Religious Pilgrimage
As I look back on my trip a month ago, a lot of emotions come up. It was a very good trip. I really enjoyed traveling with my parents, Auntie Meng, and all the people on our trip. Even through all the trials, we all survived, and I would do it all over again.
As previously mentioned, Jason had a business trip to Austin, so I was able to go on this trip at the last minute. I wish Jason could have come with us. We had used two weeks of vacation to go to the Philippines in January.
We traveled in the footsteps of St. Paul. I am amazed at the amount of foot travel St. Paul and the Apostles had to endure to convert people to Christianity.
Here is a picture of me (it was hot that day which explains my clothing and scarf on my head) in one of the amphitheaters where St. Paul preached:
Let me mention this. When you go on a tour as a pilgrimage, you participate in Daily Mass, prayer, and a daily Rosary. I always enjoy all aspects of it. I am glad that I have served as a lector on all 3 trips. I think going on a pilgrimage is great because you renew your spiritual side.
Here I am at our first outdoor Mass with Fr. JC and Fr. Rodrigo:
Jason is helping me upload pictures into a gallery, but I will say that my Dad got the best pictures. He always does. Those are posted on themendozas.org in the photo gallery. Some of my pictures are fuzzy, but I’ll post them anyway.
Each stop had something inspiring, but I will highlight those that touched me.
In Ephesus, Turkey, I was deeply moved when we visited the Virgin Mary’s House which is where she lived her final days in exile. There are water spigots where you can drink the water. Those pictures of me drinking the water are on themendozas.org website. I was moved when we celebrated Mass there. That was a very special place for me. I left an offering, said a prayer inside her house, and left a prayer on the prayer wall outside the house.
Here I am with my parents touching the statue of the Virgin Mary (dates back to 1867):
I also enjoyed finally seeing the Parthenon. I had done a high school project on it, and it was so neat to see it in person. I was sad that we only had a few minutes to go there. We were so rushed in trying to catch up with the schedule that by the time we reached the top, we had 15 minutes to take pictures and make it back down the hill! We were behind schedule because there were four members of our tour who were stranded in Germany the first day.
I was more than excited to see Pope Benedict XVI. I had gone to Rome in times past, but each time Pope John Paul II was sick or away. In his whole papacy, I never saw him, which saddens me. I was also sad that we weren’t able to see his tomb. The crowds on a Papal audience day are so large that it’s near impossible to see what you want to see when you’re with a tour group.
I feel so blessed to have seen Pope Benedict XVI pass by in his motorcade and to have his blessing. I feel even more blessed to have been there with my parents and godmother (Auntie Meng).
I was also moved at the holy relics of the table of our Lord and the Holy Manger. I believe I had been to the basilicas that house these before, but it’s been so long. I also don’t think our tour guide as a student pointed these out – I think I would have remembered.
There is a place that houses a piece of the table of the Last Supper, and a place that houses a piece of the manger in which Jesus was born. I was so moved by those two relics. I have to jog my memory as to which basilicas these are in. We saw four basilicas in one day, and they are all running together.
Here I am with the Holy Manger:
And, of course, as with any trip, I enjoyed all the beautiful artwork, artifacts, views, culture, people and food. I may go back and add a daily blog of the things we saw and did, but in the meantime, these were the things that moved me.
