Novitiate of the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament, Emmaus...

For believers, today is Easter Sunday, arguably the most important date on the Catholic calendar all year—even more important than Christmas—because the entire Catholic faith is based on the fact that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his death. It’s not just a sublime Sunday; in fact, the entire Holy Week has been special and has brought out the best in me, because even though we always try to give our best, when so many of us feel connected by the same sentiment, there’s an extra something that soothes the soul.

It’s been two weeks since I took these photos, but now is the perfect time to share them. That Sunday, my wife and I visited Los Chorros Park, in the neighborhood of the same name here in Caracas. I’ve already written a post about it for Worldmappin that you can read here. But as we left and were captivated by the silence, beauty, and solitude of the place, we agreed that the best thing to do would be to walk back to the busier areas with public transportation. Plus, on the way, I saw a Catholic church, and you know how much I’m drawn to their architecture.

Although I took these photos along the way, I spent most of the time walking hand in hand with my wife. It was midday on Sunday, and there weren’t even any cars in the area; it was just the two of us in deep silence, far from home. Suddenly, we came upon the church we’d seen along the way as we were walking up to the park. This holy place is called the Novitiate of the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament, Emmaus... To our surprise, the place was empty and silent—a small Catholic church with its doors open, where practically no one goes to visit at that hour. And when we approached the altar, behind some railings, we found three nuns kneeling in total silence before the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.

I think people did attend Mass that day, because before heading up to Los Chorros Park—which is less than a 10-minute walk away—I saw a lot of cars in the parking lot. Even so, it’s a very small church, though beautiful. It has only three side windows, two lamps in the center, one on the altar, and one on the second level at the church entrance. Those nuns probably didn’t even notice that my wife and I were there; we sat down, prayed, took photos, and even laughed in complete silence at a funny story 😅 The peace in this place—and throughout the entire area—was absolute, and even though it was midday, we didn’t even feel the heat; the colorful vegetation kept it at bay.

We stepped out onto the street and continued our walk from Los Chorros to Los Dos Caminos, but that sublime feeling stayed with us for the rest of the day—even when we reached that busy area where we had to navigate public transportation—because the entire walk downhill was filled with flowers and a deep sense of silence, and since we’d just visited the park, the spiritual atmosphere was at 1000% that day. This is definitely one of those places we hope to visit again, perhaps to attend Mass on some future Sublime Sunday; even if we have to make a long trip, the peace this temple and these streets convey are worth the effort 🙏