Many years ago, we visited the Alamo in San Antonio but wasn't able to visit the San Antonio Missions on that trip. We always said that we're going to come back, and we finally did.
It was worth a special trip just to see the Missions. We were able to see several churches and even managed to catch a docent talk on the history of the Missions and the Immaculate Conception Church. He was so passionate about the Missions and specifically the Immaculate Conception that I was ready to come attend mass every Sunday if I lived close by. Many of the churches are still active today and offer masses.
One of the most interesting bits during the talk was about the design of the church, as shown below. The church was designed by the Franciscan missionaries. It is situated ad orientem, meaning facing east like most Catholic Churches back in the days. As the name suggests, Immaculate Conception, this church is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Thus, on the day of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, there is a window at the top of the entrance of the church, where the sunlight enters at just the right time, and the light shines on the altar area of the church.
According to the docent, this happens every year on Assumption. He even showed us a video of this event on his phone. It was amazing; it makes me want to show up at the church to witness this event on Assumption.
Some parts of the Missions like gift shops were closed or limited due to the pandemic, but despite that, there was still a lot to see. The Missions is the only UNESCO world heritage site in Texas, according to the National Park Service (NPS). The architecture of these churches is remarkable, beautiful, and such engineering marvels for the time. The grounds had a sense of reverence, especially when the church bells rang. According to the docent, the bells rang every day to remember those who passed from Covid.
Words alone can not describe the wonder of the San Antonio Missions. There were so many stories about the churches, each miraculous and spectacular, that it was well worth the extra time to read about them and to listen to a docent talk. It's a testimony to faith and works, and that it can accomplish great things and how important to always to give our best to God Almighty. It is all for the Glory of God.
I think I could spend more time at the Missions if I could. It was definitely worth the trip. One of my little buffalos enjoyed listening to the stories from the docent, the other buffalo, not so much. That's actually not bad, if you have little ones, you'll know what I'm talking about.
As for tips, the maps on the phone left much to be to be desired especially navigating through San Antonio traffic. It's best to follow the maps from the (NPS), so you can see different Missions on the route as they intended.
If you're ever in San Antonio, the Missions are worth a stop.
As we are approaching the end of the Lenten Season and are entering into Holy Week, I wanted to leave you with the image above of the last station of the Stations of the Cross. It is a reminder of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us pray for one another and for the one, holy, catholic, apostolic church.
Thanks for taking the time to read this post, and I hope you stop by again.