SJC

Mission San Juan Capistrano was founded in 1776, the seventh of 21 missions located across the state.

Considered the "Jewel of the California Missions," its red-tiled roof stood in stark contrast to the cobalt sky during the day I visited. I dawdled near the flower beds. I watched a monarch butterfly flit from stem to stem. I perched on a wooden bench to gaze at a line of bells and strolled through the courtyards.

While I was dazzled by the display of beauty, oh how my heart swelled once inside the candlelit chapel.

The soft chanting of monks wafted from the organ loft. Women knelt in prayer. The air hummed with a kind of energy I rarely experience outside of the pews.

Despite a sturdy faith, the chasm that separates me from the beyond can often feel like an exhaustive reach. But the spiritual monikers of my youth; tallow, hymns, and the worn pages of idle prayer books still provide me with solace and hope. Which is exactly what I found that day, waiting for me in the dark...

"I love when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church." - Khalil Gibran, author of The Prophet