Chimayo...

I've been drawn to Our Lady of Guadalupe the past 6 months or so. My husband and I just finished reading, "Guadalupe, What Her Eyes Say." I went with my friend, Fr. G. in Wisconsin on pilgrimage to the now newly dedicated Shrine in La Crosse back in April, as it snowed like crazy on the way down to La Crosse from Medford. It's a beautiful place, no doubt, (but to be honest, it was a little bit too "5 Star-ish" for me.) Now I'm wondering about visiting here, and God willing, maybe I can go to New Mexico some time. I saw Bob & Penny Lord talking about this place on an old Super Saints program on EWTN. I was immediately touched by the story about this Shrine, and it's being called the "Lourdes of America."

Since I can't go overseas anytime soon, (though driving is hardly much cheaper!) I'm very aware of the fact that there are really VERY many wonderful and holy sites/shrines here in the U.S. to see. Even here in Nebraska, we have little Shrine in the small town of Arapahoe that Fr. Henri Denis built. I just found it on line a couple of weeks ago. He was a survivor of the Dachau concentration camp in Germany and amazingly ended up in Nebraska to build this Shrine to honor Our Lady of Fatima as he had promised her. I WILL get there and probably before the year is over, if God wills. By the way, if you've not seen The Ninth Day, it is worth renting/buying. Rich and I watched it recently and if we in America today would just wake up as Our Lady says, pray pray pray ...for this potentially COULD happen here. If we think that it couldn't happen here, we're fooling ourselves. God bless our priests and Our Lady, keep them safe near your heart. Pray for vocations!