After an extremely tiring day, everyone was driven to their respective host family’s house. I was paired up with the other two seminarians, Saul and Patrick. As soon as we got to the home of Filomena, our hostess, we were greeted by two loving dogs Gio and Charlie, who were excited to meet some Californians. Philomena, is the mother of two young men João and Eduardo and wife to Antonio. This kind native Portuguese family, welcomed us with an abundance of kindness and generosity by sharing their food and home. The next morning, we had very simple yet enjoyable conversation with the host parents over a breakfast they so kindly spread out for us.
After some time we headed over to the local church, Cortes Parish, to prepare for Mass. Mother Teresa once said in an interview that the sisters receive all the joy and strength they need, to care for the extremely poor, through partaking in Mass every morning. That was our experience as well, as we were feed with the Eternal Bread of Heaven, before another long day. The Mass was celebrated in English, Spanish, and even had the gospel proclaimed in Hungarian, since these were the languages that the other pilgrim priests spoke. Although there was communication barriers between these different groups, the Mass seemed to break down all these divisions and bring us into one people. I could sense a new unity and joy, as different pilgrims from different countries gathered together to sing and dance after Mass.
After being filled with the joy and strength of the Eucharist, we began a beautiful hike, which began a walk away from the Church. The hike was quite the strenuous journey uphill, but well worth the effort as we reached the beautiful destination. We first arrived to a small chapel on a mountain named Our Lady of the Mountain which oversaw so much of the neighboring towns and cities. We could see beautiful green landscape for miles. We rested, prayed, snacked, took pictures, and soon we were headed back down to the other side of the mountain. The whole hike up and down the mountain was perhaps 6 or more miles, but not at all in vain.
We arrived at a spacious platform alongside a beautiful little river, that was located beneath a local cafe. They prepared some turkey, chicken, and salami sandwiches, along with Portuguese chips, and even paid for any expresso that people wanted to purchase from the Cafe. The long and gruesome hike, made the joy of the meal that much more delightful. After our meal and sometime to relax and hangout, the hosts had a special surprise. A professional dance teacher, came and gathered everyone to learn various cultural dances from around the world. She was so persistent in getting everyone to dance that even Fr. Tom along with Fr. Cesar participated. One could feel the over abundant joy on all the different pilgrims around the world, as we continued to learn dances for literally hours!
After the dance lessons were over, a small break gave some of the different pilgrims an opportunity to pray the divine Mercy Chaplet together, which was a beautiful way to bring various countries together into one heart. In a special way, we remembered Josh Lesan, another seminarian, in our prayers on the day of his birthday. Soon we were headed back to the parish hall for dinner.
Prior to dinner we were meet with yet another surprise, as a Portuguese marching band played their impressive music around the Church grounds. It was quite the spectacle that everyone enjoyed. We ended our night with yet another 3 course meal, and soon headed back to the host homes for bed.
I received several amazing graces this day. Among many different graces, the Lord really blessed us with a unique joy of nature, cultural food, dance and music, which brought a continual smile to each of our faces today. But all these beautiful blessings were more than anything, just a means to bring about the hearts of different pilgrims around the world into one, to Glorify the Lord through our delight and love for one and another.
In Christ through Mary,
Josue Montoya
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