Vacation Day 6: The Grotto

Posted June 11, 2012, 12:54 a.m.

On day six of our vacation—the last full day—Melissa and I went solo to Mass at the Grotto in Portland, Oregon.

The Grotto is a sixty-two acre Catholic shrine dedicated to Our Sorrowful Mother. Without diving too deeply into the theology, that simply refers to Mary, the mother of God, with a particular emphasis on her sorrows and trials—especially that of watching her son die on the cross. It is meant to be a quiet, secluded, peaceful place for prayer and contemplation, even though it is located right in the heart of the city of Portland.

We attended Sunday Mass in the Chapel of Mary, and afterwards went on a walking tour of the Grotto grounds. It is a really beautiful place, filled with Catholic statues, shrines, artwork, and more. You’ll find many photos from our excursion below.

Afterwards we had lunch at a small Hawaiian restaurant nearby, and took the scenic route back to Hood River, Oregon via the Washington side of the Columbia River. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with family back at the house, and beginning to get everything packed up for the trip home tomorrow. All-in-all, it’s been a great trip.

Welcome

Purple

Reaching

Christus

Flower Bench

Our Sorrowful Lady

More Votive Candles

Crap Catcher

Chapel Basements

Looking Straight Up

Mt. St. Helens

Sorrow in the Sun

Rusting Cross

Ongoing Mass Below

Sorrowful Lady

St. Hugh

St. Alexis

St. Bonfilius

Thingies

St. Manettus

St. Sostene

Our Sorrowful Mother

St. Francis of Assisi

Dambana Glass

Dambana Filipino Shrine

Water

Our Lady of Czestochowa

Our Lady of Czestochowa Shrine

Lithuanian Shrine

Angel

Hairy

Danger

Labryinth

Rosary: Luminous Mysteries

Old Speaker

Rosary: Glorious Mysteries

Duck Butt

Rosary: Sorrowful Mysteries

Rosary: Joyful Mysteries

Pond

Peace Trail

Assumption

Servite Monastery

Not Sure Who

In the Chapel

St. Anne’s Dedication Plaque

Clearing

Servite Monastery

St. Joseph, Sorrow & Joy #7

St. Joseph, Sorrow & Joy #6

St. Joseph, Sorrow & Joy #5

St. Joseph, Sorrow & Joy #4

St. Joseph and Child Jesus

St. Joseph, Sorrow & Joy #3

St. Joseph, Sorrow & Joy #2

St. Jude Thaddeus

Incoming Flight

Down on the Chapel

Bronze Pieta

Portland

Meditation Chapel

Artsy Fartsy

Don’t Poke Flowers

From the Upper Level

Our Lady of Lourdes

Through the Grate

Elevator Shaft

Wall Man

Newish Speaker

Stairs

Sacred Heart

Trail

Exit to Welcome Center

Nature

Cross

St. Philip Benizi

St. Philip Benizi’s Retreat

Dedication

Christus Carrying

Mary Face (from Pieta)

Jesus Face

Realistic Mary and Jesus

Traveling Mary Box

Chapel Spire

Chapel of Mary

Christus

Pieta

Pieta and Altar

Rock Cross

Votive Candles

Grotto Cave

St. Peregrine

Stained Glass

Mary and Tabernacle

St. Therese of Lisieux

Scripture

Stained Glass

Altar and Painting

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.

Quotes

The duty of the survivor is to bear testimony to what happened. . . . You have to warn people that these things can happen, that evil can be unleashed.

America seeks no earthly empire built on blood and force. . . . The higher state to which she seeks the allegiance of all mankind is not of human, but of divine origin. She cherishes no purpose save to merit the favor of Almighty God.

If I am asked, as a purely intellectual question, why I believe in Christianity, I can only answer, ‘For the same reason that an intelligent agnostic disbelieves in Christianity.’ I believe in it quite rationally upon the evidence.

A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.

Literature should not be suppressed merely because it offends the moral code of the censor.

This a wonderful day. I’ve never seen this one before.

Don’t bother about being modern. Unfortunately it is the one thing that, whatever you do, you cannot avoid.

It’s all well and good to say that reality exists only in one’s mind, but those who believe it should still look both ways before crossing the street.

I pledge you that we will neither commit nor provoke aggression, that we shall neither flee nor invoke the threat of force, that we shall never negotiate out of fear, we shall never fear to negotiate.

But if there is anything that compelled me to write this book, it is to show that success is more a function of consistent common sense than of genius.

You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.

To be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant.

If we attach great importance to the opinion of ordinary men in great unanimity when we are dealing with daily matters, there is no reason why we should disregard it when we are dealing with history or fable.

If the body of the people will not govern themselves, and govern themselves well too, the consequence is unavoidable . . . a few will, and must govern them.

I observed . . . that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And . . . the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.

All economic transactions involve mutual accommodation and each transactor has to make the deal a net benefit to the other transactor, in order to have a deal at all.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord.

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.

A great man is always willing to be little.

Man is unhappy because he doesn’t know he’s happy. It’s only that.