It seems like it was another world

I'm sitting in a nondescript hotel room in downtown Los Angeles, looking out the window and drinking nondescript hotel coffee. It is a step or two down from yesterday, to be sure. I have thought about bringing my espresso maker with me on these trips, but it seems to go against my efforts to simplify things.

I am heading to the cathedral (Our Lady of Angels) soon to attend mass. There are a lot of people who don't like the cathedral (cost too much, ugly, etc.), but I find it to be a very spiritual place. I think I posted some pictures of the interior when we came down here last august.

I endured another round of traffic yesterday to return to LA. But again, it was well worth it. I met my friend J, who lives right in the middle of LA. She is a professional photographer, and she took me to her favorite photography store to shop for lenses. I bought a 70-200 and a 100mm macro (which was out of stock, but they will send it to me). After that we went to Santa a Monica and had dinner and took a bunch of pictures. It was like photography school. She showed me all sorts of things to do with my camera, and I listened attentively. She is really cool. It was an excellent day!

Right about here is where I would post some of the pictures I took if I hadn't left my cable in Temecula. I can tell you this--they are different from the pictures I usually take. Not a flower in the bunch.

When I got back to the hotel last night, I checked my email and there was a comment from someone who had read one of my journal entries from almost three years ago. As I read the original post, it sounded like it was written by someone else. Maybe it was. As I fell asleep, I thought about the person I was and the person I am. So different, and yet so much the same.

f-stop

Thomas and friends

I left the hotel and headed toward the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. It wasn't far--maybe a few miles. The streets were almost empty, and I counted it as a good sign.

I got there early and had a seat beneath the tapestries of the saints that line the walls of the cathedral church. I knew where I wanted to sit--next to my old friends Thomas and Francis. Thomas, who I have related to ever since I joined the Church, and whose name I took when I was confirmed. The one who doubted--he had to see it with his own eyes and had to touch it with his own hands before he could believe. And Francis of Assisi, who accompanies me on this current journey, and who sometimes seems to be sitting on the steps of my destination.


Thomas, St. Monica, Clare of Assisi and Francis of Assisi

As I sat there this morning, looking up at my friends, I reflected that I seem in some ways to be journeying from Thomas to Francis--from complex doubt to simple faith. It is not an easy journey. Interesting that there are two women between the two.

( a couple of pictures )