St. Bernardine's 50th Anniversary and the Guadalupe Celebration

Yesterday, we attended St. Bernardine's 50th Anniversary Mass and Celebration.  Mike and his family have been going to St. B's since they moved down from Oakland (not to mention they live up the street from the church).  Both Isabelle and Francis when to elementary/junior high there as well.  At the mass, they introduced everyone to the "founding parishioners" of St. B's.  It was so nice to see them there, looking so happy at how far their "little church" has come.  The founding pastor, Monsignor Murray, also gave a great speech at the end describing how rural the whole area was when he first got assigned to St. B's (dirt roads, etc.).  Even though I wasn't a parishioner at St. B's, I've always enjoyed the masses I did get a chance to attend.  The music is wonderful there and everyone is always so warm and welcoming.  Seeing the founding parishioners made me think about me and Mike at the Cathedral ... on how all our big moments have been/will be celebrated at that church and how honored we'll be to call ourselves "founding parishioners" at the 50th anniversary of the Cathedral.  A great church plays such an important role in a person's life and community.  I just feel so blessed that we've found our "great church" so early on in our lives and that we have so much more to look forward to in our Cathedral life!

Zoe and Lolo at St. Bernardine's 

The next day, me, Mike, Zoe, mom, Tita Bot, Tito Ton and Jeric attended the Guadalupe Celebration at the LA Coliseum.  Since it was projected that thousands of people would be at the celebration, everyone encouraged people to take the Metro.  Since mom and Tita Bot haven't experienced this before, we thought it would be a nice little field trip for everyone.

The Guadalupe Celebration was beautiful -- it was an amazing feeling to be around so many Catholics!!!  Although the weather was hot, we were blessed enough to find a spot in the shade way up top (thank goodness since we didn't come prepared like others by bringing an umbrella).  We got to do a living rosary, and each prayer on the bead was lead by someone "famous" or important in the Catholic community.  The relic of the tilma was also presented to the crowd.  All in all, it was a wonderful day and we were so glad we went to the celebration.  All of us have a pretty strong devotion to our Lady and it was nice to spend the afternoon honoring her and thanking her for the countless things she's done for each and every one of us.