We began at San Juan Bautista Mission in California with the Holy Latin Mass. It was St. Pasqual Baylon’s Feastday and San Juan Bautista Mission has a statue of him. We all prayed for his help on our pilgrimage. He has a monstrance in his hands because he promoted adoration of the Holy Eucharist.
After Holy Mass we had breakfast. Then we walked through fields singing and praying and talking.
The purpose of the pilgrimage is to visit Our Lady of Bethlehem who is the patron of the Monterey Diocese. She was brought over from Spain. When the mason/state took away the missions from the church, the Indians saved Our Lady’s Statue. They brought her back when the Carmel Mission was restored. Mary is waiting to come back to the church when tradition is restored.
We travel over a dirt road through the Fremont Mountain.
Even the animals were happy to have us come along praying. We traveled around 13 miles.
This is the third year, so they do not exactly know the shortest way to get from Point A to Point B. So we were trying to find a way through fields and we ended up going in a circle. So we gave up and were driven the last mile or so to the catholic cemetery, Our Lady of Heaven in Salinas. There we had Benediction in the Mausoleum Chapel. This is the chapel where the Monterey Bay Traditional Latin Mass is said every Sunday at 10:30.
Next day we again began with the Holy Latin Mass.
Again after a light breakfast we began the 14 mile hike to Marina. We travel through a great deal of strawberry fields with Mexican farm laborers. They were so happy to see us with Mary and the Rosary. They were so happy to talk with us and that made me think we need to work with them to bring them to be traditional catholics.
Cars that pass us were in general very very happy to see us. We tried to be as friendly as possible.
We made it all the way. But now I am limping around. I wonder if I will be able to make the walk from Marina to Carmel Mission (14 miles)????????
The original author of this blog passed away in July of 2016. RIP Father Carota.