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April 19, 2010
Mission San Buenaventura: Taking a closer look
It's cool and dark in the sanctuary of Mission San Buenaventura; I stand in the back near the confessionals, the murmuring of the sinners muffled within. The late-afternoon sun pierces the velvety shadows, spotlighting pews for a moment. It's easy to ignore the subtle signs of modernity; the past coexists with the present in places like this, layer upon layer, tantalizingly close, yet forever out of reach.
The afternoon sun streams through the windows high on the Mission's western wall, cobwebs hanging motionless in the still, cool air of the sanctuary, the gossamer threads seeming to spring from the brush strokes in the centuries-old plaster.
The doorknob leading into the Mission's sanctuary was polished to a mirror finish along its periphery by the hands of countless parishioners.
The doorknob on the inside of the main door was flashy, but my eye wandered to the ancient lock below and behind it's gaudy finish.
Posted by Mike Lief at April 19, 2010 10:57 PM
Comments
The mission gives me a creepy feeling. I don't know why.
Posted by: Rhonda at April 22, 2010 05:55 AM
Thank you for these beautiful photos. You have honored my faith, and the Holy Church. A friend told me of these images. The enemies of our faith are at our necks. We need to honor our faith, our traditions and our holy places and resist their arrows with God'd grace and strength.
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.
Posted by: I Serve the Father at April 23, 2010 12:22 AM