Mission Basilica Door of Mercy!

You may have heard of "Holy Doors", and if you are like me you guess that they are some beautiful Church tradition and that there's a bit of research that must be done to educate yourself more on the subject. 

With the ease of the internet, I found a wonderful explanation on the Mission Basilica website in about 5 seconds.  

To give a brief explanation here, I have pasted a part of the explanation below (I have added some underlining for emphasis):

       "A holy door or porta sancta has been used since the fifteenth century as a ritual expression of            conversion. Pilgrims and penitents pass through it as a gesture of leaving the past behind and              crossing the threshold from sin to grace, from slavery to freedom, and from darkness to light.              Often these rituals are associated with prayer, pilgrimage, sacrifice, confession, and indulgences.

       But the door finds meaning only when the believer associates the door with Christ.

       Jesus is the Door!"

We are blessed to live quite near to the Mission Basilica, one of two locations in Orange County where a holy door can be found during the Year of Mercy.  Our dear friends, Jacinta and Scott organized an 'pilgrimage' (gave us a meeting date and time) to visit the holy door and complete the 11 Stations of Mercy at the Mission Basilica.  And it did end up being more of a pilgrimage than we thought it might be because the annual Swallows Day parade was taking place the same day, so we ended up having to park several miles away, hop onto a shuttle (a school bus) and walk about 1/2 a mile to the Basilica from there.  It was a nice little additional time and effort to make it feel like we had to "try" since ordinarily a trip to the Basilica is a quick easy hop for all of us from where we live and there is a parking lot right next to it.  

There ended up being three families who met to do our little pilgrimage together. 

 Here are some of us entering the door.  (Jacinta took these next two pictures)

I love Ava looking up at the picture here.  So sweet. 

Chris and Scott and Gregory heading through from darkness to light.  :)

Inside the Basilica (and outside too, since a few of the stations were outside) they designated certain pictures and shrines to be markers for the 11 Stations of Mercy:

Station 1: Welcome the Stranger

Station 2: Admonish the Sinner

Station 3: Counsel the Doubtful

Station 4: Forgive Offenses

Station 5: Comfort the Sick

Station 6: Visit the Imprisoned

Station 7: Bear Wrongs Patiently

Station 8: Feed the Hungry, Clothe the Naked, Give Drink to the Thirsty

Station 9: Instruct the Ignorant

Station 10: Comfort the Afflicted

Station 11: Bury the Dead, Pray for the Living and the Dead

You can find the stations to pray on your own wherever you are during this Year of Mercy here on the Basilica's website.  It has reflections on each station and a beautiful prayer to say for each as well.  

Jacinta took these next two sweet pictures as well. 

It was a beautiful little pilgrimage and a wonderful blessing for each of us and for our families during this Year of Mercy.  

As Pope Francis said, "There is only one way that opens wide the entrance into the life of communion with God: this is Jesus"  

Especially in this Year of Mercy, may God continually remind us to show others mercy just as He has shown us such incredible mercy.  

Jesus, I trust in You.  Be Merciful to me, a sinner.

And here are just a few pictures of a bit of the Swallows Day parade that we caught after our pilgrimage.  

 

Here's sweet Gregory, "feeding the hungry".  hahaha

It's hard to see the 'swallows' they are swinging around in the wind....