Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

  • Thread starter Thread starter PazFeAmor
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
P

PazFeAmor

Guest
I will be going on a pilgrimage to the Basilica in Washington, DC this Sunday. If anyone would like for me to leave their special intentions before any of the many chapels dedicated to Our Lady at the Basilica then you are more than welcome to send them to me through PM. You don’t have to give your full name, just state your intentions and I will print out all of the intentions so I can take them with me.

You can visit the site the Basilica’s website and take a virtual tour of it.

nationalshrine.com/site/pp.asp?c=etITK6OTG&b=106948

Please make sure to send me your intentions the latest early Saturday evening.

Peace to all 😃
 
That sounds wonderful for you to do that. I woud love for you to leave an intention for my husband . l
 
You will have a wonderful visit. The Basicila is beautiful! Please leave an intention for the purity of teens today.
 
juliamca It seems like you didn’t get to finish writing your intention?

Sr Sally I am super certain that I will be blown away by the Basilica and I will most certainly leave your intention.

Peace 🙂
 
I went on the pilgrimage and it was certainly one big whirlwind of emotions. The pilgrimage was sponsored by my parish and so we went by bus to Washington, D.C. On the bus we prayed and watched religious movies.

When we arrived at the Basilica it was so overcrowded that I hardly had the time to even pray in peace for even a second as there were constant tours being given throughout the Basilica which made it hard to focus on ones prayers. I did indeed bring all of your intentions with me and offered it to Our Blessed Mother.

Around noon we attended mass (and thank God there was enough incense at mass to raise up all the prayers of the world to heaven!!! :D). Can you tell I love INCENSE at mass? 😉

The rest of afternoon I continued to visit as many of the chapels as I could and most especially loved the Church in the crypt. I tried to take pictures in the crypt Church but for some reason the mosaics of the saints did not lend well to picture taking (at least not with my camera).

In the final hour of the pilgrimage we were taken to the White House for some picture taking and then back to the bus we went. I personally felt that the atmosphere in Basilica was just too noisy for prayerful reflection but do thank God for the opportunity to have attended mass at the Basilica (incense yeah!!! lol) and to be able to bring all of your intentions with me.

Below I leave you with some pictures I took. Peace to all.

http://mysite.verizon.net/vzew4v2y/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/ImmaculateA.jpg

http://mysite.verizon.net/vzew4v2y/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/VailkankanniA.jpg

http://mysite.verizon.net/vzew4v2y/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/LaVangA.jpg

http://mysite.verizon.net/vzew4v2y/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/Lorda.jpg
 
Beautiful. Thank you.

Yes, it was crowded an somewhat noisy during our pilgrimage too. Thankfully, we are close enough to go back at our leisure.
 
As an usher at the National Shrine (although not this past Sunday) I can tell you the problem with the noise was due to the fact you went on a Sunday. It sounds like you arrived during morning Masses, so with Masses at 9:00, 10:30 and 12:00 in the upper church, things can be noisy between Masses because you usually have a large group of people exiting while another large group comes in. You also sometimes get tour groups that totally disregard the sanctity of the place. I can also tell you that if you were there on Sunday, chances are none of the “tours” were official tours because the first one on Sunday doesn’t start until 1:30, after the noon Mass.

As ushers we try to reign in the noise during Mass, but on Sundays there is only so much you can do outside of the Mass times.

I’m glad you had a great time. If you want a peaceful time go during the week or Saturday morning or afternoon as long as a special pilgrimage isn’t in town.
 
Sr Sally You’re welcome and you are very lucky to live close enough to the Basilica to go back anytime. Unfortunately I live a good 4 hours away so its kind of hard to find enough free time to be able to go back to the Basilica.

Marauder Thank you for the information. I wish I had known this beforehand as I would have planned a pilgrimage for myself during the week and not on a Sunday. It must be great to work as an usher at the Basilica!

The next time I go I will make sure to also include a visit to the Franciscan Monastery as well near the Basilica.

Peace
 
Yes volunteering at the Shrine as an usher is great. Meeting people from around the country and helping them out is great. There are a lot of other great things about it. I volunteer at early Masses so when I get there at 8:00 to prepare the upper church is empty since the 7:30 Mass is in the Crypt church. It is so quiet (unless the maintenance people are cleaning or changing out candles).

As for planning on when to visit it can be tough. Some times it is dead other times there are tons of pilgrimages. You can show up on a Saturday afternoon and it is empty or you can have the Archdiocese of DCs annual pilgramage and find the place full. In general during the week it can be empty except for school field trips, but the problem is you won’t see the incense and full choir Masses then unless there is some type of special occasion.

Sundays are real busy times. There is the 7:30 in the Crypt church, the 9 and 10:30 in the Upper Church. The Solemn 12:00 in the Upper Church. The 1:30 Spanish Mass in the Crypt church and the evening Mass. There are also usually a couple Masses in some of the Chapels in the Memorial Hall and sometimes Masses for Catholic U in the Crypt church in the morning. That is just a typical Sunday. That doesn’t include when there are big pilgramages.

The biggest Mass that I have ever been to is the Vigil Mass for the March for Life. That Mass is wall-to-wall people.

Yes, the Franciscan Monastery is also a great place to visit. Even better in the spring when the flowers are blooming.
 
The Shrine is beautiful. I used to stay in the church’s cafeteria and studied and sometimes went to daily mass there.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top