This is a re-post from last Christmas of 2014, honoring the continuing theme of Mary, also touching upon the excitement of a summer vacation to Spain and Lourdes. The family wedding will be in El Pilar Basilica, the vacation centered in Zaragoza. Here, also, is a link to a delightful slideshow for a Maronite monastery in Massachusetts, the Maronite Monks of Adoration. It creates the desire to take photos.  The monastery is Eucharistic based.  I am trying to arrange a quick three day retreat for New Years Eve.  I would like to explore a religious men’s community centered upon the Eucharist similar to the Cleveland Poor Clares.

A post in honor of my parents.  I spent quality one-on-one Christmas time with my mother.  My father passed away this year, in the fall.  My parents were married in my mother’s hometown of Zaragoza, Spain.  My father, a United States Air Force man at the time, and mother were married at El Pilar Basilica.  Their marriage endured through fifty plus years.

 The image of Our Lady of the Pillar is a wooden statue decorated with gold; it is about fifteen inches high. The crown adorning the head of the statue is very intricate. It was made in forty-four days by thirty-three workmen; in it there are 2,836 diamonds cut triangularly, 2725 roses, 145 pearls, 74 emeralds, 62 rubies and 46 sapphires. The crown of the Infant is identical with that of the Virgin, except in size.

The history of this particular statue of Our Lady is unique and interesting. It is said that in the year 40 A.D. the Virgin visited the Apostle Saint James while he was at prayer one night on the shore of the Ebro River in Zaragossa. Mary was standing on a column of marble, and she gave St. James her effigy, requesting that he build a chapel in her honor. Saint James complied.