Trip Update

     As mentioned in Saturday's post, I joined with fifty people from our parish and the area for a journey that was both inspiring as well as sobering.  Each year our Junior Youth Ministry (Junior High level Religious Formation) takes such a trip.  This year we travelled to the nation's capital, Washington, D.C.

     There were two stops on this journey.  First we visited the Franciscan Monastery near Catholic University and the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.  Nestled in a community setting, the Monastery was built in the late 1800's and is listed as a National Historical Site.  We arrived, had a tour, celebrated Mass in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, and of course visited the gift shop.  The Monastery is known for its depiction of various places in the Holy Land as well as having chapels to a number of Franciscan saints.  The grounds have a beautiful cloistered area, and the gardens at this time of the year were in full bloom.  It was inspiring.

     From there we went to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum located just off of the National Mall in the center of Washington.  If you have never been there, it is well worth the time.  The Holocaust - the mass murder of the European Jews and others - was a watershed event in human history.  It was human nature at its worst and is a part of history that must not be allowed to be forgotten or simply assigned to the history books.  The story, told on other levels and with other peoples, continues today.

     One of the adults said that her youngster said in unbelief:  "How could they do this to these people?"  That is the million dollar question.  The images and memories abound ... whether it is the room full of shoes, or the glasses, or the hair, or the video accounts of the shocked liberators arriving at the camps, or the Hall of Remembrance with the names being read aloud.  It was a sobering few hours, but a time necessary to appreciate the freedom that we possess.  And we place our fallen and fragile human nature into the merciful and forgiving hands of God.

     I am grateful to Religious Formation leaders - Sister Charlene and Mary Blyth - and all of those who travelled with us on Saturday for a day well spent.  I was especially impressed at the number of Dads and Grandfathers who went along.