Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament

Thursday evening, after watching the taping of Life on the Rock, we drove the 50 miles to Hanceville, Alabama and checked into our hotel.
Friday we drove the 8 miles to the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament.
It is situated on a very large, beautiful, rolling estate and as you pass through the front gate, this is what greets you!


Mass began at 7AM (it was still pretty dark), so we took this photo of our little pilgrimage group after mass in the courtyard outside the church.


The interior of the church is breathtakingly beautiful!


Just above the main altar back piece is this fabulous monstrance containing the consecrated host - the body of Christ for prayer and adoration.


The tabernacle, at altar level, also in the altar back piece is a miniature replica of the altar back piece!


The right side aisle leads to a wonderful shrine to the Blessed Mother.


The stained glass tells the story of the Rosary - here is the Annunciation.


The Stations of the Cross are painted reliefs and are very beautiful.


The front of the altar has a mosaic pelican. The pelican, if it cannot find food for her young will pluck its breast with its beak until she bleeds. She will then feed her young with her own blood. It has long been a symbol of sacrifice and of the Eucharist.
(The tabernacle in Garabandal, Spain - where the Blessed Mother appeared to four young girls in the 1960's - also has a pelican on its door.)


In a side hallway was this highly unusual statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Note His Sacred Heart is bleeding into the cup and he is holding a host - very symbolic of the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.


In the stairway descending to the lower chapel, this relief depicts the scene at Calvary with Mary Magdalene, Mary the Mother of Jesus, and the Apostle John. The skull indicates Calvary or Golgotha - place of the skull.


Outside the lower chapel is an exhibit of the Shroud of Turin.


When the Shroud was first photographed, the negative revealed much more detail than had been previously seen. The figure depicted was clearly crucified and the stains on the cloth depict Jesus' wounds. Later mystics and visionaries gave detailed accounted of Jesus' crucifixion and are validated by the wounds depicted on the Shroud.


This statue "Ecce Homo" behold the man! reveals the trauma that doctors and scientist believe Jesus suffered based on a detailed study of the stains on the Shroud. This is extremely graphic and rightly should disturb anyone who sees it. (I recall when we unveiled the Crucifix at Saints Francis and Clare, people were concerned about the scuffed knees and seeping nail wounds being too graphic!)


The lower chapel contained the burial place for the deceased Poor Clares of this monastery.


On either side of the main altar back piece are statues of St Clare and St Francis.
(St Clare is depicted holding a monstrance with which she "defended" the convent at San Damiano.)


Ouside and across the courtyard is this small building containing a (1/4 size?) creche.


The figures are wonderfully lifelike and were a joy to behold.


Near the parking area was this statue of the Blessed Mother depicting Simeon's warning: "and a sword shall pierce your soul"


Nearby is a new shrine that honors Our Lady of Lourdes.
It is well done and is indeed reminiscent of the Grotto at Lourdes.


Pizza tonight and 7 AM mass again tomorrow!

EWTN Grounds and Artwork

I chose to separate the artwork and grounds from the studio tour since some find that of less interest. The facility is pretty well packed into a tight mostly industrial facility.
A welcome break is the chapel where we attended afternoon prayers.


Just across the street from the chapel is this new outdoor chapel with a small statue of St Francis to the side.


Literally across the street from the chapel is this beautiful grotto taking full advantage of the rolling topography of Alabama.


St Michael is a major figure in the life of EWTN and the Chaplet of St Michael is prayed daily!



Of course, the Blessed Mother is seen often!


This painting is at the door to the chapel and depicts Jesus first miracle - changing water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana.


When we arrived for the taping of Life on the Rock, this window was back lit (and beautiful)!

EWTN Studio Tour

Margaret and Anne's plane from Atlanta was delayed over two hours, so we weren't sure we'd make the 2:45 PM studio tour, but we did! We walked through the doors at 2:45 exactly!
Margaret loves Mother Angelica (who was debilitated by a stroke several years ago). This is as close as we could get for her to see Mother Angelica!


Of course the tour starts at the gift shop!


Brother Pio was our tour guide. He is a wonderful young man from Kentucky who seems to know everyone at EWTN!


There was an unexpected break in the taping of a show, so they let us in the "sound stage" where Margaret got to meet one of the on-air personalities.


Bro Pio showed us the "bookcase trick" - to save weight, they cut the books a couple of inches deep! Looks real on TV but weighs 1/10 as much as a full bookcase!


He toured the studios, production areas, and control rooms. It is quite a complex.


This small console monitors all EWTN up links (sending signals to the satellites for all of the world feeds) and the down-links to make sure the satellite companies are in fact broadcasting the signals faithfully!


Later, we returned to the studios for taping of "Life on the Rock"
This is the control room they used for this (and most studio shows).


The set is very sparse. The audience sits on risers and the four cameras move constantly to vary the picture during the conversations.


When the show is taped, the cameras see only the set which looks like a resort in the mountains! The guest had literally died giving birth and through a series of miracles had been brought back to life.

Rocket City - Huntsville

We knew from the web that the Space Flight Center Museum would be closed for snow, but we didn't want to just sit around the hotel. So we drove over to Redstone Arsenal and got a window decal (good on any DoD base) and then drove to the exchange. Met a woman in the exchange concourse who had a bunch of Rosaries for sale. Chatted with her for 20-30 minutes. She is German, married a soldier who just retired. Very enjoyable conversation!

We then decided to locate the visitor's center and see what we could see from outside.


As we approached the visitor center, this snow-rocket caught my eye!
most places, people build snowmen - not in Rocket City!


Next to the parking lot is this shuttle with external tanks and rockets!


Just up the walk is an aerial photo showing what all this looks like when there is no snow!


This missile (I think it is an Atlas, but not sure - I know it is BIG) dominates the skyline and is visible for miles! It sits next to the Visitor Center.


Right in front of the Museum is this SR-71 Blackbird (apparently didn't fly far enough south ;-)


Just down the walk is this memorial to the first US animal to ride into space and survive.
(Seems like it would have been more appropriate to have a monument to all the ones who did not survive!)


Does the Rocket dominate this city? Here's the church steeple of a local Baptist Church!


We explored downtown a little - pretty nice - and discovered this historic district down by the railroad tracks. This old station is now a museum/visitor center.


Nearby is this RR repair facility - not quite a roundhouse, but close.
("Let Him Chase You to the Roundhouse Nellie, He Can't Corner You There" ;-)


Tomorrow, we'll pick up Theresa's sister Anne and her mom Margaret at the Birmingham airport for a long weekend at The Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament (near Hanceville, AL) and the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) studio complex on the near east side of Birmingham.

Snow Birds Flee!!!

In a fit of brilliant timing (I have many of my brilliances in fits:), we headed south Monday morning. We knew Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia were getting dumped on majorly as we drove!
So we laid over with a buddy we met many years ago while I was part of the Navy Shooting Team. Dave Fiehtner and his lovely wife Sue live just 15 minutes East of Louisville in an terrific area surrounded by horse farms! Their lovely house is in an absolutely drop dead gorgeous area. They just happened on this house a few hours after it went on the market and snagged it! When Sue and Dave took us to the lower level, we discovered a SUITE complete with kitchen, living room, bedroom, etc! Sue said we should stay as long as we like and I asked how she felt about March!


Dave was an "O Brancher" (CTO in the Naval Security Group) what can I say?
They seem to have a full sea bag, but it ain't always packed quite right!


After a wonderful dinner and desert (coconut custard pie! = Major League Yum), we settled in to watch a really unusual Robin Williams movie "What Dreams Will Come" about a doc who dies and goes to Heaven. His wife commits suicide, so she goes somewhere else! He goes looking and finds her. Won't spoil it by telling ending but if you are into SciFi, you might like this one. Great special effects in the scenes from Hell. But also a little strange.

Tuesday morning after breakfast, we dusted about an inch of fresh snow off the car and hit the road at about 9AM (to miss morning rush in Louisville).


Once we got on the Interstate system (about 10 minutes on snowy roads & some slush), we sailed south without incident. Pulled into Huntsville about 3PM and checked into the hotel. The city got hit with 8" of snow Sunday/Monday and they are still struggling! We plan on visiting Marshall Space Flight Center tomorrow, but the desk manager said Redstone Arsenal may still be closed for snow! (What's up with that? Since when does the United States Army close for snow!?)
Anyway, some of the scenes we saw were more like something we'd have seen in Indiana!




We're in Huntsville again tomorrow night, then on to Birmingham Thursday morning.
Theresa's Mom loves EWTN, so we're meeting her and Anne at the airport.
We'll spend a few days at the Shrine (north of Birmingham) and at EWTN. They head back Sunday and we head East to Atlanta (assuming they've dug out by then).
But I'm getting way ahead of myself!
Tomorrow, hopefully pics from Redstone Arsenal1
Ciao!