Praying at San Xavier

san xavier mission Prayers and Light Nothing, everything, happens at San Xavier

EVEN THE CLOUDS ARE BEAUTIFUL at Mission San Xavier del Bac south of Tucson. On this day, they cover the sky, full and charcoal gray. They carry the promise of rain somewhere in southern Arizona, but they don't stop the tourists.The visitors fill the parking lot with their vehicles and the small church with their awe for this place suspended in time. The art and architecture of the Spanish New World empire still reign here. The devotion of a free Mexico permeates the walls like the scent of all the candles ever placed on the altars. The dust of the Arizona Territory lingers.

A Jesuit priest and explorer, Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, founded a mission on this site in 1692. A century later, the priests of the Franciscan order and the people of the surrounding land raised the walls of this church. Their descendants live here still. They are the Tohono O'odham, the Desert People.

The faithful have come today as they always have, saying prayers, kneeling among the statues of saints and the carvings of angels. They pay special homage to the statue of San Francisco de Assisi, who founded of the Order of the Friars Minor, the Franciscans.

The statue, draped in red, has been readied for the annual Feast of St. Francis on October 4. The noble wooden face of the statue has been worn smooth by the touch of thousands of hands.

Now, as dusk approaches, Father Edgar Magaña prepares for the evening service. He pulls the green chasuble, a poncho like vestment, over the brown robe of his order. “We have people from all over the world,” he says. “They're welcome.” Diego Bernal, the altar boy, waits in his robe of red. He will lead the procession, a small one, like the boy himself.

Outside a breeze blows cool. In the west, the clouds have broken, revealing a thin white-gold band of clear sky above a hill. That rise will obscure a full view of the sunset, cutting off the rich range of pinks and blues.

People are arriving in family groups, in couples or alone. Signs of the cross are made, cowboy hats and baseball caps are removed at the doorway. The Malone family, just in from Boston, has made the trip. “We're just looking for a place to come to Mass,” Kate Malone says.

Pigeons that held their daily court on the east tower now fly down to the façade of the church to roost among the curlicues cut into the adobe.

“Welcome once again, to holy ground,” the priest's voice carries down the aisles and out to those who linger at the arched doorway.

A woman plays a guitar and sings. The congregation, surrounded by the brilliantly painted walls and ceilings of another century, raises its voice as well.

Outside, the sunset has created a golden glow along the small strip of horizon, but a powerful light nonetheless. To the southeast, the Santa Rita Mountains have grabbed their share of the light, like a movie star would, turning the face of that range pink lit and crystal clear.

The normally nondescript hill east of the church now absorbs the last moments of sun, transformed from desert brown hill to brilliant coral red. The white cross atop gleams like a beacon in a Tolkien tale of power and faith.

“Mira,” says one man to his family. “Look. Tan bonita. Very pretty.” Across the plaza, the lights of another gathering place have come on, the patio of the Arts and Crafts Center where a party will raise scholarship money. A band begins. The music of northern Mexico reaches out, drumbeats reverberating off the adobe walls.

Within the church, the light remains soft, warm, muted with age. The faithful stand straight and strong, as though they alone can hold up the domes, the ceilings, the walls of a church made of nothing but stones and dirt. They raise their arms in prayer.

“Beautiful,” says Kate Malone as her family joins the quiet parade.

Beautiful, yes, they often say that here. Nothing really unusual happened at Mission San Xavier today. People came to look and pray as they have for more than two hundred years. The small church did nothing more than grow large enough to hold them all and tall enough to touch the heavens. Alt Tucson author Kathleen Walker often makes her own pilgrimages to the beauty and peace of San Xavier.

Errol Zimmerman of Phoenix photographed sunrise at Mission San Xavier del Bac on October 1, then returned in midafternoon to find the wedding of Andrés Garcia and Rosa Encinas in progress.

New Beginnings October 1 wedding vows completed, Rosa Encinas Garcia talks on her cell phone as she awaits a limousine outside Mission San Xavier del Bac, south of Tucson. when you go

Location: 1950 W. San Xavier Road, Tucson.

Getting There: Take Interstate 19 about 9 miles south of Tucson to San Xavier Road, Exit 92, turn right (west) and follow signs.

Travel Advisory: The mission, museum and gift shop are open daily for visitors from 8 A.M. to 5 P.M. Visitors are welcome to photograph inside the mission except during religious services.

Additional Information: (520) 294-2624; www.sanxaviermission.org.