San Fernando Cathedral

I was born in San Antonio, and haved lived here all my life, yet I've never stepped foot in the San Fernando Cathedral. I've heard of it all my life, and I'm embarrassed to say, I really didn't even know where it was. You see, I don't spend a lot of time around the courthouse downtown! It is right there, a stone's throw away from the courthouse, on Main Plaza. My sweet Emmaus Reunion Group planned an outing there yesterday, and little did I know, it would be a day I'd never forget.

We started the day with lunch at Mi Tierra's Restaurant at El Mercado. This is the foyer when you first walk in!

This is the ceiling in the room where we ate. It was covered with icicle lights and silver foil paper doilies. There is a Spanish word for this which I don't know. It was very beautiful.

This cathedral was founded in 1793 when 15 families of 55 people came to San Antonio from the

Canary Islands.

The remains of Crockett, Bowie, and Travis, our Alamo heroes, are buried here.

Here are the "milagros" that people bring to represent prayer requests.

And here are just some of the candles which were in many areas of the cathedral which people light when they pray.

The majesty of this altar just can't be appreciated from this photo. It is a beautiful statue of Jesus surrounded by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And yes, that is real gold.

When we finished our tour of the cathedral, the twelve of us received permission to sit in a circle on the side of the sanctuary and visit and pray. We were led by Denise Barker who talked to us about "blessings," how we rarely take the time to realize what a blessing we are to God, and to realize all the blessings in our lives every day. Her words, as always, were beautiful. When Molly Bailey went to Isreal a few months ago, she brought each of us a little box with three bottles: one of holy water, one of holy oil, and one of holy soil. Denise asked us to bring our holy oil that day, so we could all be anointed. Then we went around the circle and each of us put oil on the forehead of the person to our right, and we took turns telling them what a blessing they were to us. It was a very meaningful experience. When we finished, we very softly sang, "Surely the Presence of the Lord is in This Place."

It was a day I won't ever forget. For a link to this song, click here

Surely the Presence of the Lord is in This Place