A Little Bit of Faith in a Big City

Sometime back, Kirk and I took a Sunday evening and just went exploring in downtown Phoenix. This is a fun and relatively easy thing to do and no one seems to mind much at all. In the very heart of town, there is an old Catholic basilica.



Surrounded by the Civic Center, the local paper's headquarters and all manner of hustle and bustle, it sits serenely on what I am relatively sure is the ONLY piece of grass in the entire downtown area. Its bells ring to tell the hour, but otherwise everything is still. Not so much as a pigeon graces its structure.

Now don't get me wrong, this place is not deserted. I have seen more than one wedding party dance down its steps, and people often gather in the sanctuary or garden complete with saintly statues.

But at the moment, it was ours and ours alone.

The basilica is a staple of downtown. A reminder of the less hurried side of life, so few of the busy business people who power walk past it every day remember to consider. In this huge capitol of commerce and capitalism, this old church remains, a beacon on what we are all really chasing after- peace, happiness, love and light.