I fulfilled my goal of attending mass in Spain. My luck to enter the Basillica de San Francisco at the right time. I was told the way to fully experience these magnificent spaces is to experience the mass. This space was indeed beautiful. Big colorful religioius murals and white statues of saints encircled us. Not a wall was left unpainted including the domed ceiling above our heads. The gilded altar area dwarfed the priest, a smiling older man dresed in green vestments. 

We were a small congregation, at least if felt that way in this massive space. But the priest had a way of making it feel intimate. He came right down the marble steps among the pews to deliver the sermon. It seemed he was talking directly to the man in the front row, his large smile and sparkling eyes alive with his message. 

And that is what struck me, the message. He talked about people stopping to take a moment and ask themselves “what is really important?” Yes, we have jobs, money, bills, lives….. but WHAT is really important? The answer is Love. 

Love, he said, is something we can give our full selves to. We can give our bodies, minds, strength and focus. We can do it with force because in the end, what matters is to love God, love self and share that love with others. 

Simple. Powerful. Thoughts I have had myself and that many of us have likely heard in our own churches, yoga classes, community gatherings, weddings, etc. In that moment I felt the thread that is woven through all of humanity, the focus on love. When imersing in a different culture I find myself thinking the people are different, they must think differently than me. In this moment those thoughts faded away; different language, color, race, country…. people are people just like me. They are figuring out what is right and wrong for them, how to live, be kind, balance thier desires of wanting with the reality of thier situation. Here was a priest giving guidance to the people here,  the same guidance I have recieved thousands of miles away. How powerful to know we are recieving the same message: to tune in to  the power of LOVE. 

This was particularly poignant to me as I watch the political scene unfold in the US and around the world, as the beggar women look me in the face and ask for money, and strangers I meet offer me random acts of kindness. Maybe we are all trying to find our way to living and acting out of love. That is a soothing thought that can bring me to tears.