Always stay close to this heavenly Mother, because she is the sea to be crossed to reach the shores of eternal splendor. St. Pio |
This past summer I found myself a little early for work. I was pleasantly surprised when I didn’t hit any construction or traffic. I wondered what I should do with my extra 15 minutes. I remembered seeing a church down the road and headed in that direction. The church had a long entrance with what I thought was a parking lot on both sides. I decided to turn to the right, and was so excited that I did. At the end of the parking lot was a beautiful Shrine to Mary! It was the perfect place to say my rosary. I almost felt giddy as I sat down to pray in front of Mary. It was so special to spend this time with her!
The shrine reminded me of the times I had been in Italy. It seemed no matter where you walked, eventually you would come across a small shrine to Mary or a statue of Mary with flowers. I loved that! I loved running into my Mom all the time!
I have been back to the shrine several times. It just feels like a little piece of heaven to me. I wonder if one of the surprises of heaven will be, that heaven was in front of us the whole time, we just had to pray with Mary to see it.
-Susan