Good Friday

I was just thinking about something that happened about nine or ten years ago,  on Good Friday.
I remember as a child we would go to Church on Good Friday somewhere between  12 -3 and observe the silence.
It took me many years to even talk or do anything between that time. I don't like to publicly talk about how I feel about religion. Growing up in such a strict religious household, where we were told how to feel, what to believe.... I carry my beliefs, let others carry theirs. I just do not want to be around hurtful, negative, cruel people.

Getting back to that day many years ago on Good Friday. Ray and I took a drive and ended up out
in northern San Diego County.  We were driving around and found a Native American Reservation, called "Pala" with a Catholic Church on it. I no longer practice Catholicism... but I love Missions, Churches and always appreciate their beauty, history, reverence. This one was particularly beautiful in it's simplicity. It was a very old Mission and School with a Cemetery. Very primitive.

Pala now has a Casino, and it almost feels obscene when you drive through the poverty of this
Community. Many dogs running through the neighborhood, wild and abandoned... hungry.
Run down trailers that many of the residents live in.  We felt such a draw to pull into the driveway of the Church. Across the street at the park.... we saw the school children playing. The park was was barely a park, some trees, a few benches, but the kids didn't care. They were having a great time running, laughing, playing.

We walked up to this simple Mission, and just like a few other times in our life.... a hush fell between us.
Humility like we had never experienced came over us. As we were walking into the Mission,
we noticed this very emaciated dog walking toward us. Ray and I just stared at each other not knowing what to make of anything. We stared inside the church through the open doors- it had a very long aisle, with pews on each side.  Meanwhile, the dog was at such a weakened state, we thought it might die right there in front of us. This made us terribly sad and we were wondering what to do.

Just as we were considering so many possibilities... this exhausted dog that could barely walk, slowly makes it's way into the Church, painfully, one step at a time- all the way up the aisle to the front of the Church, stopped in front of the Crucifix and just looked up at it.


Ray and I could not talk, could not breathe as tears streamed down our face. We just kept looking into the Church at the dog, then at each other in disbelief. Slowly and painfully the dog took it's long pilgrimage back down the aisle, and just stood with us.

Ray went to the car and found something to put water in and we filled it up.
The dog drank every bit,  somehow came back to life, and walked away.
We went into the Church and sat for the longest time without speaking. I would venture to say looking back that in general was a very difficult time period in our lives. Very lonely,  filled with so much doubt and fear.

We knew something miraculous took place in front of us, it moved us both so deeply and brought us even closer together. It deepened our Spiritual Belief. The  humility that day we felt on so many levels, the gratitude for the life we have been given, watching that dog near death take that long walk before our eyes. It is so difficult for me to write about this experience mainly because it was so personal, and because it was truly so humbling. Wishing you a peaceful day today.