Some time ago, a friend gave me the book, “Monuments, Marvels, and Miracles – A Traveler’s Guide to Catholic America”. I have had the dream of traveling and visiting many of the sites. The first time I was on the highway to visit my aunt, we drove by a sign to a shrine and I thought it might be in the book. Yesterday when I drove my sister to the airport, my aunt was with me and I asked her about the shrine when we passed the sign. She told me she had been there many years ago and had always wanted to go back. When we got home, I looked in my book and it was listed. So, we made a plan to go today. First we went to lunch with my cousin and told her about it. She really wanted to go too, so she picked up my aunt and I and off we went. On the way, we stopped at a local cheese shop that I wanted to go to. There was probably a hundred different cheeses and it was hard to decide what kind to get and to bring back to family. It was quite fun filling my basket with assorted flavors and the infamous cheese curds. Then we went to The National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion which is the first and only approved Marian apparition site in the United States.  It is a sacred site where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Adele Brise in 1859. Since then, pilgrims have come to its grounds to pray for the intercession of Our Lady of Champion and Adele Brise. Many have encountered healings or blessings that they attribute to the intercession of our Blessed Mother and Adele. It felt strange that it was in an out of the way place surrounded by farmland. We spent some time in the beautiful upper chapel where they have Mass. Then we found our way downstairs where part of the original chapel from 1880 had been preserved. It was warm, peaceful, and felt holy in the small enclosed space filled with candles. We each lit a candle and said some prayers. Before we left, I did a quick loop around the outside Stations of the Cross and Rosary path while my cousin and aunt took refuge in the car from the frigid wind. As we left we talked about how peaceful it was there. It really was a little retreat that we all felt blessed to experience.

I Found God today experiencing a Holy place.