Article Tools
- Text Size
- Add a comment (
- Print this article
- Email this article
We are seated on faded plastic chairs perched on the dirt floor of a one-room corrugated tin home. It belongs to Ovalia, a forty-three-year-old Guatemalan woman who is expecting her ninth child. Her face is lined, her hands rough. Her eyes are weary, but they seem to shine with an inner light.
Speaking quietly in Spanish to her five American visitors, Ovalia reveals the source of her light. “I put my faith in Mary,” she says. “I pray to her and feel her spirit. She understands the struggles of the women here.”
In these surroundings of unimaginable poverty, Ovalia’s love for our Blessed Mother shines out like a beacon in the darkness. I know I am encountering holiness, and I feel blessed. For me, this humble home is a stopping point on a unique journey: God is waiting to meet me in the lives of families like Ovalia’s.
Come and See! I had not imagined that my trip to Guatemala last year would be so rich in blessings. In fact, until just a few months before it, I had never thought of traveling there at all.
The invitation came during a…
The full article is available to subscribers only
Access all articles, daily meditations and readings, as well as special resources, by becoming a subscriber. View subscription options.
Special Offer: 2 week free web-only trial subscription. Sign up now.
Existing Print & Web-Only Subscribers: Login for full access.