Madrid 8 Years Later (by Brian)

"chaperoning" in Rome's Borghese Gardens
                                     days before heading to Madrid.                                         
With fashion like this,
it's a wonder I stayed single as long as I did.

In August 2011, I was chaperoning a group of students in Madrid for World Youth Day. My prayer intention for the pilgrimage was to seek God’s will in my relationship with Courtney. I was fairly certain that I wanted to marry her, but I also knew that my heart wasn’t always the most reliable barometer for good decisions. One morning in Madrid, I woke up with a newfound confidence that I wanted to propose to Courtney. A huge group of high school students, chaperones, and families waited outside a parish church to be let in for a catechesis session led by Francis Cardinal George, OMI, and there was a commotion as a van approached the crowded church’s entrance. We learned that the relics of St. Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower, were to be brought in to the church for veneration that day.

That's me on the left. Not the ponytailed individual, the other one

The back of my unmistakable head

A few of us were asked to help carry the relics into the church, and I made a deal with St. Therese as we walked in. I didn't know much about St. Therese other than the fact that she was really into flowers and that her feast day is October 1, so I decided that I'd propose to Courtney on October 1st. That gave God, St. Therese, and Courtney almost two months to end the relationship if it wasn't meant to be. Once we sat down, Cardinal George preached to a mostly teenage congregation about marriage, commitment, and love. He spoke so clearly about the necessity to make a commitment with one’s life when we’ve found a love worth living for. I don’t know how many of the 15-year-olds in the church that day could relate to what Cardinal George was saying, but I heard it loud and clear.

On October 1st, the feast of St. Therese, I proposed to Courtney. The whole story, read aloud by my sweet voice, can be found here. It's a chapter from my non-selling (free!) Audiobook via podcast about God the Father, "Best Dad Ever."

Fast forward to December 23, 2019. Our family was visiting Madrid for a few days, on pilgrimage to see the tombs of Saints Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross. On the last full day of our trip, I wanted to bring the family to the Madrid church where I had made my deal with Saint Therese of Lisieux. The only problems were my lack of planning (see 1982-2020 for additional documentation of this shortcoming) and my ignorance of the church’s name / location within Madrid. Shortly before our trip to Madrid, I had contacted two of the former teens who had attended World Youth Day in 2011 with me. One was able to find photos of us carrying the relics of Saint Therese (thanks, Rachel Pat!), And the second (thanks, Ellie B!) Used a reverse image search to determine the church’s name and location.

"Brian, you're welcome"
"Courtney, really? Him?"
-St. Therese of Lisieux

As we approached the entrance to the Carmelite church of Saint Teresa and Saint Joseph, I retold the story to Courtney and the kids of how we waited outside in 2011 as the van carrying St. Therese’s relics pulled up. We went inside the church and I couldn’t help but think of how overwhelmingly faithful God had been to me in the past 8 years. The church even had a side altar dedicated to St. Therese of Lisieux, so Courtney and I renewed our wedding vows at the side altar. I left the World Youth Day pilgrimage in 2011 wanting to return to Madrid again, but without chaperoning teenagers. Instead I found myself back in the same church, now fully responsible for the lives and well-being of our 4 children. There’s no way I could’ve imagined in 2011 what the future would bring, or how incredibly full my life would be 8 years later.

Shortly after graduating from college, I went through a frustrating period where I questioned/doubted whether or not God had a plan, specifically a good one, for my life. My spiritual director at the time suggested I pray with a specific Scripture passage each day for a month. This is the passage I was told to pray with:

“For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfil to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.”  Jeremiah 29: 10-14 (RSV translation)

A brief overview of the last 8 years of my life

Fifteen years after that penance I was given in college, I’m in awe of God’s plan and His perfect timing. Of course His timing has often seemed less than perfect, but in hindsight I’m convinced that He is even more concerned about my welfare than I am. I’ve been given more than I had ever even hoped for, and the trip to this church in Madrid was yet another reminder of the Lord’s goodness in my life.

Pilgrimage to St. Teresa of Avila & St. John of the Cross

Our family flew to Spain and rented a car to visit the tombs of St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross!  We carried with us many prayers intentions.

During our drive from Madrid the sky was filled with full rainbows!



Our first stop was to the small town of Alba de Tormes where we prayed at the tomb of St. Teresa.





We then drove about an hour to Avila and went to the Monastery of La Encarnacion - where St. Teresa lived almost continuously from 1535 to 1574.



Brian wrote this reflection:

"We just got back yesterday from our trip to Madrid and Avila. Both Courtney and I were amazed and honored by how many people chose to share their prayer intentions. We prayed for each person and their intention by name at the tombs of Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross. To be honest, Courtney and I know little about either of these saints. I’ve never read or studied John of the Cross’ “Dark Night of the Soul,” but after traveling frequently and sharing hotel rooms with little kids, I feel like I understand the concept.

One story that I heard recently is from the life of St. Teresa of Avila. She lived as a religious sister for most of her life, sacrificing everything for love of Jesus. Yet even she went through prolonged periods of her life when prayer didn’t come easily and God’s presence in her life wasn’t easily felt. Within the Carmelite order, her name was “Sister Teresa of the Child Jesus.” In her particular convent, family members of the nuns were allowed to visit regularly. One day, she saw a little boy standing on the stairs at the end of the hall. She didn’t think much of it, assuming he was simply a family member of one of the religious sisters. The little boy asked her name, so she said, “I am Teresa of the Child Jesus.” She asked the boy his name, and he replied, “I am Jesus of Teresa.”

As we visited the convent where St. Teresa spent about 30 years of her life as a religious sister, we saw the stairwell where she had this encounter with Jesus. I was profoundly moved by the fact that Jesus would introduce himself in relation to St. Teresa of Avila. That’s how committed to her He was. She wasn’t just someone in the crowd, or even one of many people who believed in God. She mattered to God so much that He’d include her name in His own.

In the Old Testament, God promised through the prophet Isaiah that He would visit His people and that He would be called “Emmanuel” which means God is with us. 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem, we saw just how far God would go to rescue us. He even names Himself in relation to us.

Maybe you’re a bit like St. Teresa and you’ve invested much of your life in following Jesus. Or maybe you wonder if God even knows you exist. The good news for all of us, near or far, is that He does know your name, and He’s made it His own. That’s how committed to you He is."



The convent also houses the museum of St. Teresa and contains a drawing of Christ on the Cross by St. John of the Cross.



The log that St. Teresa would sometimes use as her pillow








We stayed the night in Avila - a beautiful town enclosed by intact medieval city walls









The next morning we traveled to the tomb of St. John of the Cross located at the San Juan de la Cruz Convent in the town of Segovia.





St. John's tomb is above the altar



The painting of Jesus that spoke to St. John





We then made an unplanned trip into the town of Segovia to have a medieval lunch and visit the castle!







(Having fun with the pig leg!)

















We also visited the beautiful Segovia Cathedral









It was a blessing to be able to visit both of the tombs of these Holy Doctors of the Church.
St. Teresa of Avila, pray for us!
St. John of the Cross, pray for us!

Our Trip to Madrid with 4 Kids

During the final days of Advent, our family made a pilgrimage to Spain to see St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross.  We flew in and out of Madrid - and had some fun in the city while we were there!  (Brian had been to Madrid 8 years earlier, and prayed for us there!)  Here are some of family trip highlights:

Clare's second flight - Vienna to Madrid!

The Prado Museum





The kids' first time eating at Five Guys





Carousel Ride







Christmas Markets in Plaza Mayor - Brian purchasing the "Pooping Shepherd" for our Nativity Scene







Royal Palace of Madrid









Chocolate Con Churros from San Gines











Christmas Lights in the City Center (in the rain)















The Madrid Amusement Park - Parque de Atracciones

























We flew back to Vienna from Madrid on Christmas Eve Day... Feliz Navidad!