Iglesia y Correr!

I went to church today…

There are multiple services at the cathedral we attended today; apparently they have many short masses throughout the morning and early afternoon. A group of 5 went to the cathedral for the last service at 1pm. The sanctuary was simply beautiful and it must be a real treat to worship in such an ambiance every Sunday. The mass was completely in Spanish, they provide the congregation with a “hymnal/responsorial/verse/an outline of the service” all in one book (wow that was a mouthful!), and this is all in Spanish however the book does have Catalan and Italian text towards the back. The mass was relatively short in comparison with the services I am used to back home.

The Pastor was a simple and homely looking older man, he needed help getting up the short stairs to the alter; he spoke in a very small voice but something about his enunciation made everything he said profound and he still retained a commanding presence. When he sung it was even more intriguing, he didn’t sing the melody but rather the harmony…actually he was a pretty impressive singer. Although the service was completely in Spanish the structure was all too familiar, a few things were different being that it was a Catholic service and not an Episcopal one. It is amazing what music does…it has been and will always be one of the only universal languages; the lyrics and verses may have been in Spanish but the melodies were exactly the same. It was neat to try and sing along to the Doxology, and Alleluia chants. I would get lost a few times then everyone would begin the Nicene Creed, or the Confession of Sins and I would follow along…in Spanish I might add! The communion was exactly the same word for word (haha just in Spanish). SANTO SANTO SANTO (Holy, Holy, Holy) was a dead giveaway to the beginning of the Liturgy for Communion. In this service only the priest drank the wine and ate the bread…then two members from the congregation came up to the alter and helped distribute the bread…which surprisingly was not real bread but wafers just like the ones we use. There was even a short “peace” during the service, it was a great experience to greet the people around us in Spanish…they were very welcoming. After the service was over an older lady approached us and asked us where we were from (of course we stood out haha) and what we were doing while we were over here, she was extremely excited and happy to see “los jóvenes” (youth) at service. She explained how she is a regular and never sees anyone but older people at mass; it felt good to make someone else feel good! I thanked the priest who also seemed very pleased to see youth in the church; I even helped put the books back into the cabinets after the service…what an experience.

I also went running today for the first time since I have been over here…I was beginning to feel like I had lost my touch haha. I went with Gerado and Emily; we had a great run; though both of them have much more endurance than I do. I normally run at about a 7 minute a mile pace and run 2 miles for a total of 14 minutes. (I thought I was doing well…boy was I in for a surprise!) The route we ran was at least 2.5 miles to and then about a mile back to the “meeting spot” (just in case anyone wanted to slow down or needed to stop, we also set a time for everyone to meet back up). We were running at about a 6 minute a mile pace…whoo, I was exhausted. The route we ran was a great route and I am sure that will become my preferred choice, it takes me along the harbor/marina and then along the boardwalk on the beach!!! I have never run such a picturesque route before. Emily and Gerado ran both ways (from our starting point back to the “meeting spot” along the Marina) I could only run to the “turn around” point! However the “turn around point” was at least 2.5 miles from the start so I already ran farther and faster than I normally do…so I was still happy with myself, even though there was a slight blow to my confidence haaha.

What a great Sunday today was…school tomorrow, more Aussie Open tennis tomorrow night! Go Nadal.



Look at the detail on that alter table!!




Detail on the hanging candles!





Organ..its huge!




WOW...I had mass in here!






Amazing stained glass



The green is where we started right outside our dorm. The Red dot is the "meeting spot" that we determined. The yellow dot is the turn around point...this is where I stoppped haha, Gerado and Emily ran back to the red dot! I'll get to that point hopefully by the end of the semester.