Sunday Morning in Yongning
Most Sundays getting to Mass at the Seminary is not a problem. It's the return trip when we join the bumper-to-bumper traffic travelling north to the Ming Tombs or the Great Wall that has become of new level of misery. Recently, the drive home has taken up to an hour and a half of stop-and-crawl. With this weekend, though, falling on the National Day Week-long holiday, we were sure that the traffic home would be even worse than normal.
We planned to go to Yongning Sacred Heart Church for Mass this past Sunday, hoping we would be able to avoid the National Day-Week crowds and traffic. Going to Yongning sounded like a nice retreat from the holiday madness.
More after the jump
We left a little bit after 8 am, allowing ourselves more than enough time to get to Yongning in time for 10 AM Mass.. Pulling out of our parking lot, we saw that the G6 was already in gridlock north-bound. With our regular Sunday plans we would be stuck in that on our way home. We drove up to the Ming Tombs, encountering a little traffic along the way. In fact, the whole way to Yongning, on familiar roads that are usually empty, we noticed many more vehicles on the road than normal.
We got to the church just in time for Mass. The church was beyond full as the parish was hosting thirty-three nuns from Beijing and Shenzhen that weekend.
I was curious to see if there would be other foreigners at Mass. On our last visit to Yongning we were told that they occasionally celebrate Mass in English. Based on that, I thought perhaps there were some number of foreigners living on the absolute fringes of Beijing. We didn't see any. A few times, though, and probably for our benefit, the priest spoke a few words in English. His greeting he translated, as well as a sentence or two in his homily, which was about anxieties.
There were several baptisms after the homily. These always make me tear up a little, and this past Sunday was no exception. Among the group were a boy a little older than Myles, a few men and women around my age, beaming after their anointing, and a couple of elderly men. One of the elderly men was so bent with some old age affliction he had two people almost carrying him to the priest to receive his sacrament of initiation. Father met him part of the way, in the aisle.
There was plenty of chant, too, much to Myles' satisfaction, and a litany of saints during the Baptismal Rite. I think I am hearing more chant during the Masses in Beijing than I had two years ago, but it could just be that we happen to be at Masses with priests who like to chant. This priest in Yongning, like the usual celebrant we have at the Seminary, have such a gift for chant that I really could listen to them sing the entire Mass, even the Gospel.
After Mass our plan was to buy some vegetables from the dozens of vendors that set up on the streets of Yongning early in the morning.
Some were selling more than vegetables.
Birds, chipmunks and crickets!
We had hoped to spend more time wandering the streets and eat lunch in Yongning, but the very holiday crowds we were trying to avoid met up with us in Yongning by the time Mass was over. It was a madhouse, with horns honking and drivers yelling out their open windows.
So much for a peaceful day in sleepy Yongning. We couldn't even get into our favorite restaurant. We packed up the car and headed towards Yanqing city. Brigid wanted to "hike the Great Wall," so we wanted to make that happen.
We planned to go to Yongning Sacred Heart Church for Mass this past Sunday, hoping we would be able to avoid the National Day-Week crowds and traffic. Going to Yongning sounded like a nice retreat from the holiday madness.
More after the jump
We left a little bit after 8 am, allowing ourselves more than enough time to get to Yongning in time for 10 AM Mass.. Pulling out of our parking lot, we saw that the G6 was already in gridlock north-bound. With our regular Sunday plans we would be stuck in that on our way home. We drove up to the Ming Tombs, encountering a little traffic along the way. In fact, the whole way to Yongning, on familiar roads that are usually empty, we noticed many more vehicles on the road than normal.
We got to the church just in time for Mass. The church was beyond full as the parish was hosting thirty-three nuns from Beijing and Shenzhen that weekend.
I was curious to see if there would be other foreigners at Mass. On our last visit to Yongning we were told that they occasionally celebrate Mass in English. Based on that, I thought perhaps there were some number of foreigners living on the absolute fringes of Beijing. We didn't see any. A few times, though, and probably for our benefit, the priest spoke a few words in English. His greeting he translated, as well as a sentence or two in his homily, which was about anxieties.
There were several baptisms after the homily. These always make me tear up a little, and this past Sunday was no exception. Among the group were a boy a little older than Myles, a few men and women around my age, beaming after their anointing, and a couple of elderly men. One of the elderly men was so bent with some old age affliction he had two people almost carrying him to the priest to receive his sacrament of initiation. Father met him part of the way, in the aisle.
There was plenty of chant, too, much to Myles' satisfaction, and a litany of saints during the Baptismal Rite. I think I am hearing more chant during the Masses in Beijing than I had two years ago, but it could just be that we happen to be at Masses with priests who like to chant. This priest in Yongning, like the usual celebrant we have at the Seminary, have such a gift for chant that I really could listen to them sing the entire Mass, even the Gospel.
After Mass our plan was to buy some vegetables from the dozens of vendors that set up on the streets of Yongning early in the morning.
Some were selling more than vegetables.
Birds, chipmunks and crickets!
We had hoped to spend more time wandering the streets and eat lunch in Yongning, but the very holiday crowds we were trying to avoid met up with us in Yongning by the time Mass was over. It was a madhouse, with horns honking and drivers yelling out their open windows.
So much for a peaceful day in sleepy Yongning. We couldn't even get into our favorite restaurant. We packed up the car and headed towards Yanqing city. Brigid wanted to "hike the Great Wall," so we wanted to make that happen.
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