My exceptional Sunday

I love Sunday's; love everything about being involved with beautiful liturgies and the more relaxed pace of a Sunday afternoon.  I really love Sundays that are followed by no-work Mondays so the last two Sundays have been awesome.  And this Sunday has been exceptional.

Riding the high of our week long plus adventure, making great memories with a wonderful visit with son & Sara, beautiful vistas in Asheville, Knoxville, Chattanooga, etc. not to mention reuniting with the rest of my family here in Alabama for my nephews wedding, today became the proverbial icing on the cake.  After saying goodbyes to all the family, daughter Elizabeth in that number, Wendy and I decided to take a breather, right here in Cullman, Alabama.  For Mass we decided to stay in town and visit Sacred Heart of Jesus for the 11 a.m. liturgy.  I was blown away on both arriving at the church and entering the church.  Huge romanesque building with marvelous stained glass, splendid archways and ceiling work, topped off by an exquisite worship space and altar, I felt like I was in a little slice of Heaven.  Of course, every Mass is a little slice of Heaven!  The singing at the Mass was outstanding and traditional: Panis Angelicus, Pie Jesu', with a little God Bless America thrown in to remind us of the upcoming 4th of July.  Beautiful Mass.  Also, I found great encouragement in the robust numbers of worshippers and the worship itself as I continue to think that north Alabama can't be a hotbed of Catholicism.  You can pass a Baptist Church or Church of Christ every few miles but the Catholic Church is alive and well around these parts.  (You may remember some previous blog posts about the growing Catholic numbers in many deep south locales).

Here is the website for this beautiful Catholic Church: 
http://sacredheartchurchcullman.org/home.htm

Immediately after Mass, Wendy and I drove a few miles to a Benedictine facility that houses the Ave Maria Grotto.  Located on the grounds of Alabama's only Benedictine Abbey named for St. Bernard, the grotto was the magnificent work of Benedictine monk, Brother Joseph Zoettl.  Here he created more than 125 miniature replicas of of biblical scenes and scenes in the life of the Catholic Church.  Reproductions of Jerusalem, Rome, the Vatican, many beautiful Italian churches, Shrines from across the world dot the 2 block long stroll carved out of a 4-acre landscaped park.  Just breathtaking!
The Grotto along with the grounds of the Abbey are a nice visit that does not take too much time unless you chose to linger.  I wish we could have stayed longer but the stroll is pretty steep in spots and the temperature was 102 when we visited.

Here is the website for this wonderful Catholic Grotto:
http://www.avemariagrotto.com/

Now if these two wonderful visits would not be enough, consider our final stop for the day.  Located just 18 miles or so from my hotel is the countryside community of Hanceville, Alabama where Mother Angelica, of EWTN fame, built the beautiful shrine, known as the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament located on the grounds of the Our Lady of the Angels Monastery.  The Shrine is beyond description, although, like me, I hope you have seen it at least on TV.  We were spellbound by both its size and sheer beauty; a true worship space worthy of a loving, merciful God.  We arrived in time to sit in the Shrine, which has all day Eucharistic Adoration, to listen as the nuns chanted Vespers and Fr. Jospeh led Benediction.  This Benediction is shown live every Sunday afternoon on EWTN at 5 p.m. central.  If you watched today, you might have seen me and Wendy.  The gold and cedar and marble were personally selected by Mother Angelica who was given a vision for the scope of this spiritually inspired project.  She has dedicated the Shrine to the Child Jesus and a statue of a young Jesus, already showing us His Sacred Heart greets after you ascend the steps and enter the courtyard.  As beauiful as the Shrine is, what is really beautiful is the chanting of the nuns, cloistered behind an ornate gate, and the reverance of the place.  The Blessed Sacrament exposed certainly helps the church to be quite free from useless chatter.  After Benediction and the lovely signing of Holy God We Praise Thy Name I could have floated out of the place.  Another grand visit; 3 for 3 on this exceptional Sunday.

Here is the website for the Shrine:
http://olamshrine.com/

So tonight I'm relaxed, reenergized and re-fired up after a beautiful vacation, topped off by this beautiful day.  Good memories of these last 8 days for sure; now back home in the morning to continue to preach the Gospel; and when necessary, use words!