California Mission
Pilgrimage(3)
Day Four: Easter Monday
Mission Santa Ines
At this point, our pilgrimage took a
delightful turn because of the sheer beauty of the scenery over the next few
days. We woke up early on Monday to head
out toward Santa Ines. We got very early
starts each day (quite a feat with four kids) to ensure we could reach all
three Missions that day, and also because the peace and quiet of the early
morning made for wonderful starts to our day.
This day, we also sought to make the
morning Mass at the Mission. My wife and
I had vacationed near Mission Santa Ines when we were first married, so we were
pretty familiar with it. There is not a
large museum on the grounds, but for my money, it is in the most beautiful
location of all the Missions. The parish
community is very warm and there is a chapel with perpetual Adoration at the
back of the Church that makes Mission Santa Ines a special place to pray. The beauty of the place is also very
conducive to prayer outside, on the Mission grounds.
The grounds at Santa Ines are very conducive to prayer
Mission La Purisima
From Mission Santa Ines we took the
beautiful drive to Mission La Purisima.
The drive is short, only about half an hour. La Purisima is one of two Missions that is no
longer an active church; it is a California state park. This Mission is a nice place to visit because
there is so much of it left to see.
Being a state park, it has been preserved without the renovations that
other Missions might need to accommodate parish communities. There is also still livestock on the property
and an opportunity to walk on a dirt road section of El Camino Real, the
original Spanish road that connected all the Missions.
Visiting a chapel at a Mission that is
no longer an active church has a very unique feel. There is still art, an altar, and a retablo, but
it is pretty bare. Praying there is kind
of a special thing. I thought of the
wonderful things that had happened there, and how many souls came to Mission La
Purisima to meet Christ for the first time.
Praying in that chapel I felt as though I was bringing something back to
that place that belongs there, but is so often forgotten.
One word of caution is that the
informational displays at the visitor center are somewhat biased. They are written from a modernist secular
point of view that sees Spanish involvement in California as pure colonialism,
without honoring the heroic sacrifice so many men of God made to serve the
spiritual and material needs of the native population.
Mission La Purisima sometimes hosts
“living history” days, in which people can experience some of the atmosphere of
18th and 19th century life at the Mission. That might be something to look into if
you’re interested.
For many years the Holy Mass used to be offered here
Walking El Camino Real like pilgrims of old
Mission San Luis Obispo
From La Purisima, we drove to Mission
San Luis Obispo. This Mission is located
in a cute little town along Highway 101.
It is a nice (if somewhat dirty) downtown to explore, and we had lunch there. This Mission has unique architecture because
it is the only Mission laid out in the form of an “L.”
The kids particularly liked the
fountain out front with the bear statues.
San Luis Obispo was once known as the “Valley of the Bears,” because of
the grizzlies that once lived there and provided meat for many of the other Missions.
The church has a unique 'L-shaped' design
We were able to leave San Luis Obispo
relatively early and head toward our campground for the night at San Simeon
State Beach. This was a nice place to
camp, but a bit farther from the Mission than I expected. There are some things to see nearby, such as
Hearst Castle, and a viewing area for elephant seals, who like to beach
themselves just off the road. One thing
to watch out for, though, is that due to the drought, the bathrooms were all
boarded up, and a line of port-a-potties were the only available facilities.
