~Daybreak On The Santa Catalina Mountains~

~Seen From The Santa Catalina Mission Church~

Every Saturday I head on down to the local Catholic Church to spend about three hours doing volunteer work in the Memorial Garden. I tend the paths, weeding and smoothing them for the Sunday visitors. There is a wall, a Memorial Wall with bronze plaques placed there in remembrance of departed members of the congregation. I also clean and dust the sitting benches of which there are eighteen for the weary of body and spirit. These benches are surrounded by flagstone areas which also need sweeping. One day out of curiosity I counted 462 flagstones in the entire garden. Also in the garden are twenty bronze original sculptures, some are symbolic of moments in Jesus' last hours. While others are life size representation of some of Jesus' Disciples. These I also clean and maintain, it seems that birds and other desert creatures do not have a lot of respect for the revered icons of the Church. This area containing the sculptures, the paths and bench areas comprise what is referred to in Catholicism as The Way of the Cross.

My time there is very peaceful and thought provoking. For the religious among us, just dusting Paul's hands, washing Peter's feet or wiping the Lord's face, how can one not be moved to contemplation while preforming these mundane tasks?

It is very worthwhile my time spent there each week. I like to think that those who come here to walk and pray, the devoted and those who seek spiritual comfort, appreciate the tasks I work at each week in making this place more beautiful than it already is. And the most wonderful thing of all, they don't even know I was there tending to there needs.

If you're ever around these parts let me know and we can visit the Garden, and you don't have to possess a religious outlook to love walking the gorgeous desert paths and enjoying the wonderful artwork.

Thanks for looking in,TucsonJim ;o)


PS: The meaning of yesterdays image, blog and no place for comments will be explained sometime this week. For now, I guess me and ol' No.9 are headed back to California on Monday or Tuesday. It is not a trip I want to take.