Connection to a saint!

In March 2014 I spent my Spring Break in California with Adam.  This was the trip I was on when I met Adam's immediate family for the first time, was when I truly envisioned a future in the "real world" for real and without fantasizing about it with him (and thought about having the wedding in CA for a split second), and was also when I got the call that Franciscan wanted to hire me for the following school year!  I also learned about Blessed Junipero Serra for the first time.  During one of our many day and side trips, Adam took me to a beautiful mission called San Juan Capistrano that was about 90 minutes from him.  Earlier in the trip we hiked up Mt. Rubidoux in Riverside.  Adam showed me his old apartment complex at the foot of the mountain and at the top of mountain, we enjoyed the view and solitude. 

I immediately recognized this scene when we came around the bend since Adam had sent me this image when he took a similar hike on Christmas Eve '13.  At the time of receiving this picture message, my parents and I were enroute to my favorite church outside Baltimore, MD from home to attend Christmas Eve mass with my little brother there who drove in from Delaware!

 At the top of the mountain was when I first learned of Blessed Junipero Serra since the Serra Cross perched atop Mt. Rubidoux is named after him.  It turns out Serra was instrumental in the Catholic faith in this area of California.

Later, we went to San Juan Capistrano and enjoyed the grounds of the Mission, we saw a statue of Serra, and learned that the Mission at San Juan Capistrano is home to the oldest building in California still in use.  This building is a chapel that was built in 1782 and is also known as "Serra's Chapel" and "Father Serra's Church," and is the only extant or currently standing and existing structure where it has been documented that the padre Junipero Serra celebrated mass!

So why am I thinking back on this trip?  Well, today Padre Serra was canonized by Pope Francis who is currently in DC for his first visit to the U.S. as pope!!  This makes him the first saint to be canonized on U.S. soil and to read more about today's historical event, read more, including the controversy surrounding the new saint, here:  http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/23/us/pope-junipero-serra-canonization/ .  In any event, I think it's pretty neat to have a small connection to a saint!  :)