A New Experience

Hola,

Before coming to Spain, I told myself that I wanted to immerse myself in the culture, experience new things and see and interact with the locals.  Three blocks from where my apartment is, is the famous Gaudi Church, Sagrada Familia.  It is one of the main points of tourism in Barcelona because it is unfinished, seriously huge and absolutely beautiful.  During the week, the hold mass in the basement of the building (where Gaudi is also buried! Creepy! but I didn't find him).  When two of my roommates decided they wanted to go to a Spanish mass, my other roommate and I (who is also Jewish) decided to tag along to see the inside of the church (for free!) and to try something new.

Now I know this might seem weird being Jewish and all, but I mean, when in Spain, do as the Spaniards, right?  We walked in a few minutes late and took a seat in the far back.  At first, I was in awe of the inside of the building.  There were beautiful arches that made a center circle where most of the people sat and the Priest stood at the front of the congregation in his cute green robe.  Everything was so intricately designed and every time I looked around, I saw something new.  It isn't something I can describe in words, it really has to be seen for yourself.

I was surprised about how casual the whole ceremony was.  People were constantly coming in and out of the room and they were dressed so casually.  Many people were really into the ceremony and others kind of prayed on their own.  It found it so interesting that in one of the most famous churches in the whole world that people would act this way.

I didn't understand anything that the cute Priest was saying from what I know, most religions pray about the same thing: peace, love and how fortunate we are to be alive and experience life everyday. This is something I've noticed in Temple services and I can only assume that they were talking about the same thing.  From this I found a commonality from the Jewish religion to Catholicism.  I found myself sitting there, in a new situation that was way out of my comfort zone, thinking about how fortunate I was to be where I was.  That was what I got the most out of this experience: how lucky and fortunate I was to be in a beautiful place in a beautiful country!

Besos!