Where everyone finds “shelter”

A pilgrimage to a Marian shrine: an experience of prayer and conversion. In front Mary’s tenderness and purity, we do not hesitate to show our weakness, to deliver questions and doubts, to lay down any embarrassment, to formulate hopes and our most secret desires. The motherly love of the Virgin disarms all pride, makes us capable to look as we stand and inspires us in our desire to convert to God.

The Marian sanctuaries scattered throughout the world represent inner refreshment as an oasis in the desert offers water and shade to the traveler.  Lourdes, Fatima, Santiago, Guadalupe—places where everyone feels spontaneously inspired to contemplate, to speak  with God, and to deepen a sense of life and their own personal history. Sharing celebrations, participating in processions, or simply remaining in solitude, devoting time to prayer and visiting the shrine are some of the ways that we rise from the level of  daily worries, to a different level of being, closer to the reality values.