The Basilica venerates Blessed Virgin Mary, under her title Our Lady of the Pillar, praised as Mother of the Hispanic Peoples by Pope John Paul II. It is reputed to be the first church dedicated to Mary in history. According to ancient local tradition, soon after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, Saint James was preaching the Gospel in Spain, but was disheartened because of the failure of his mission. Tradition holds that on 2 January 40 AD, while he was deep in prayer by the banks of the Ebro, the Mother of God appeared to him and gave him a small wooden statue of herself and a column of jasper and instructed him to build a church in her honor: This place is to be my house, and this image and column shall be the title and altar of the temple that you shall build. (from wikipedia)So THAT'S pretty cool. First church dedicated to Mary in history. If you're there at the right time of day, they've got a guy who will bring your baby up to touch the statue. Which seems odd, but we would have totally done it. Alas, we were not there during the hand-your-baby-to-a-guy window, so we just got to look at her.
Yep, ALL bathroom doors were clear glass. And that's all I'm going to say on the subject.
Lulu was such a little trooper. She wasn't getting nearly as much sleep as she usually does at home. And every morning we had to wake her up from a deep sleep, which is one of my least favorite things to do. But she was her usual smiley self.
Eventually, we arrived at our final destination: Madrid!
We did some walking around . . . admiring Spanish culture, and snack food choices.
(I still haven't found my other memory card, so we have maybe 100 total photos from this trip. And that's THREE of them that are pictures of bathrooms and meat cones. It's an improbably high percentage.)
In the end, Lulu opted for a different snack, provided to us by our very gracious hostess, Mar. We got to stay with a family in Madrid, who are friends of a friend, and, really, I did not know hospitality before this. She thought of everything. She even read my blog, found out I like Dr. Pepper, and got some for me. In Spain. Where Dr. Pepper isn't even a thing. And the cutest cookies ever for Lulu.
Then, finally, came the big day of the beatification of Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, successor to St. Josemaria, the founder of Opus Dei, an organization within the Catholic Church that promotes the sanctity of work and encourages the laity to strive for personal holiness. (If you've heard all sorts of crazy stuff about Opus Dei, here's where I cleared some of that up.)
It was amazing. There were over 200,000 people there, from all over the world. Many in big, boisterous, flag-waving, groups. Some in very elaborate traditional costumes.
The ceremony was set up down a very long boulevard in a new area of town that is still under construction. The streets were finished, but no buildings have been built. Sections were labeled A through J and stretched back for ever and ever away from the big altar at the front. We were in section I, so nearly all the way in the back. We really couldn't even see where the altar WAS, let alone what was happening upon it, but there were screens set up all over, so us folks in the cheap seats could watch the proceedings. (Figure of speech. All the seats were free.)
Here's where we were, taking a photo in front of the screen, when a priest motioned us over to ask if we were with a group. We told him that, yes, we were with a group from Los Angeles. He said that was too bad, because he had two tickets for the front section. But only two. Oh, GROUP? No, we're not with a group. (Again. I kid.)
So, after quite a long walk, we found ourselves with quite a bit better view of the proceedings.
The ceremony was lovely. Especially moving was the moment when they revealed the giant official portrait from behind its curtain. then a boy and his parents brought up the relic of Blessed Alvaro. He was the boy who, as a newborn, recovered from a fatal heart attack after his parents prayed for the intercession of Bishop Alvaro, and was the miracle for the beatification. It was great. As was the Mass of Thanksgiving the next day, Sunday.
And that was it. We headed home. The highlight of the return journey was waiting in the customs line at LAX with Brian Shaw, the two-time and reigning World's Strongest Man. He and Lulu really hit it off.
And THIS is how we all felt when we got home. (Bobby's welcome home poster was strangely prescient.) Grrr. . . .
We got back at about 9pm on Monday and put Lulu straight to bed. She slept through the night until about 7am. I put her back down for a morning nap at 9am and she slept all day long until I woke her up at 5pm. Then I put her back down a 7pm and she slept all night again! She clearly had some catching up to do. But it was a great trip, and she did so well, and I'm really glad I didn't wean her quite yet.
And now, for the big winners!
Two people guessed RIGHT off the bat that we were going to Madrid for the beatification, and it's my blog and I get to pick so they are the winners!
Theresa from Ordinary Lovely, you are the Facebook winner and MPHELPS84, you are the Instagram winner. Congratulations! Please send me your mailing address to helpdesk@catholicallyear.com and I'll send you your goodies!
And, jeannemp, we were going to pray for each other, that I'd find my camera's memory card and that you'd find the St. Peregrine medal that you wanted to send to a girl who has cancer. Well, look what I found in MY house:
It was my husband's while he was going through cancer, but it's been lost for who knows how long, and just turned up! Since he's been cancer-free for many years now, we'd be happy to pass it along. Please send me your address, or the girl's, and I'll put it in the mail.
And if my memory card shows up at your house, do please send it to me.