Okay, before I continue story telling, I would just like to say that I decided to go to evening daily Mass yesterday due to being the feast day of St. James (patron St. of the church I grew up attending and at which I have made all of my sacraments thus far). It was my first attempt to attend Mass at St. Joe's; however, I was sorely disappointed. There were only like 6 other people I believe and one left after the readings. Everyone was so scattered a part it was ridiculous. Everyone also decided to say the prayers during Mass so softly that I was wondering if they all had just left and weren't there any more. And they forgot what the cues are to stand/kneel and so forth. I'm hoping that the small turn out was due to the fact that there was a funeral that afternoon and the regulars decided to go to that, but still from the people that attended, it made me feel like I didn't really want to be there anymore. Oh well, had to get that off of my chest, sorry about the short rant.
Since I was asked to go to the shrine, although I was already a little worn down after standing outside for over 4 hours, guess what I did? I ran back, cleaned up, and drove to the shrine. I had never been down there before, but found out that it takes 1 1/2 hours. Well, I prayed the Chaplet of Divine Mercy in the lower chapel, hung out in the upper church, walked around the gift shop for a while and bought some stuff. Well, I spent 2 hours there and really enjoy the awesomeness of the place, but I didn't see any of the walkers. Darn.
Well, I made the 1 1/2 hour drive back so that I could chaperone 14 high schoolers at our Youth Group lock-in for the next 12 hrs. I did lay down for an hour, and got a little bit less in sleep. We ended with early Mass where Brendan and Shannon, two of the walkers talked and had info afterwards. Yay! Shannon told me that they ended up running out of time to go to the shrine, so they didn't end up going. Well, lucky for me, there weren't many musicians showing up for the next Mass, so I stayed to sing for that one too. I remembered that I had a large denomination bill in the car from Christmas and decided to donate it to Crossroads. After Mass, it was time to go take another shower so I could go to a Baby Shower.
Well, the baby shower went well, and afterwards I had to stop by the adoration chapel since I promised the walkers that I'd pray for them. I prayed the glorious mysteries, and it was probably the most devout rosary that I've prayed in a long time. Then I final got to bed after about 39 hours.
Well, I got information from them about where they will be prayin' in ATL next weekend, so I figured since it's only 4 1/2 hours away, I can go out there and TRY to hang out with my friends and family ^_^
Sure it ended up being an extremely long and jam packed weekend, but it was full of life (quite litterally!) and Church and was actually rejuvinating. There are 3 treks of walkers (northern, central, southern) that will be covering about 60 miles per day until they all arrive in DC on Aug. 12. Please take some time in the upcomming weeks to pray for these great individuals. Also, if you are graduating high school, in college, or a young adult pray to see if you might be willing to donate all or some of your time next summer to walk across the country! To check out more about their group, go to Crossroads
Paix du Christ!
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2 comments:
How can you hang on to a large denomination bill from Christmas for so long? Mine hit the bank or the store in less than a month.
Hey Stella!
Well, growing up an Eagle Scout I always have to stay prepared. I'm on the road alot, and I might be somewhere in an emergency where my cards don't work or where someone stole my wallet. So I had it there for backup. And I guess since I'm a young bachelor with a computer job, I'm comfortable enough to build up such securities. Don't be fooled though, I'm nowhere near rich, but I'm not living pay-check-to-pay-check either.
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