Discovering the California Missions

One of the great things about the Catholic faith is that there are so many ways to worship God and still adore Him in an authentic Christian manner.  There are various religious orders, types of worship from orthodox services to really charismatic, cultural and language diversity also incorporate unique ways of glorifying God among other idiosyncrasies. The Catholic faith is like falling in love.  As I get to know my beloved I keep finding more beautiful truths. For example, in California, we have twenty-one missions (today) that were established by Franciscan Friars in hope of evangelizing the indigenous people and inspire a faith conversion.  Though the missions shared the same purpose each one varies in style and size.  The first mission that I had the pleasure of touring was the one in San Juan Capistrano.  In fact, I was up there for a weekend formation retreat (I was a fairly new Catholic) and when I went inside the Mission Basilica for Mass I knew I had found the church I wanted to get married at (smile)!  I returned home sharing with my loved ones that I had found the place I was to be married and boy did my family laugh knowing that I was VERY single- not even dating at the time (wink).

A few years ago I went to Solvang with a couple friends and I got to tour my second mission, San Ines.  Again I enjoyed touring the site and learning more about the Franciscans and Blessed Junipero Serra who founded the first nine missions.  This year, I had the honor of touring two more missions in Santa Barbara and San Diego.  Though I live in California I never paid much attention to the missions, yet this past year I feel a great inclination to tour the rest of the sites.  There are a few more missions in Southern California an hour or so away from where I live and I plan on making the time to visit these blessed locations.  As I mentioned before the Catholic faith is so full and diverse that not even in a lifetime can one uncover all its beauty.  Having so many different facets to uncover and explore makes my faith ALWAYS exciting. “The more I know the more I realize how little I know…” 

Before the conference I was able to tour the first mission ever established with two of my friends, Mission San Diego de Alcala. After touring, getting a history lesson and praying we left the site a little more spiritually inspired.