Having been to Ávila to see St. Teresa of Ávila and to Segovia to see St. John of the Cross, it was only natural that I rounded out the “Great Spanish 3” by making a trip to Manresa for St. Ignatius of Loyola.  This time I already knew his body wasn’t there (it’s in Rome), but there was still an attraction there as it served as an important city in St. Ignatius’ spiritual development and works.  Also, I was excited to get out of my capsule hostel and the big city to travel to this small mountain town where I had a whole apartment booked to take some time to slow down and care for myself.

I decided to extend my stay in Madrid two days longer than I had originally planned for several reasons.  First, it was really convenient knowing the language and being able to speak it rather fluently when necessary.  Second, my lodging in the capsule hostel there was relatively cheap and had nice facilities.  And third, I think I had tried to cram too much into too short a time, and wanted to make sure I was still leaving time to you know “stop and smell the roses”, or in this case, stop and taste the wine.

One of the main reasons I had in coming back to Spain was to see the things and places I didn’t get to see the first time I was here. While I have a very strong devotion to the three most famous Saints, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Teresa of Avila, and St. John of the Cross, I never got to actually visit anything having to do with them the first time I was in Spain. I was bound to change that this time and experience them to the fullest.

I had everything planned out.  I was prepared for anything.  But of course, God had to humble my pride along the way.  But still, I’ve made it from Mobile to Madrid with really only a few minor hiccups in the process.  Here’s a little insight into the prep and then execution of what I’m calling my “Single Silver Lining Summer”.