Google Earth Pictorial: Shrine of Our Lady of Snows
[Download and Install Google Earth]

I thought today was going to be a wonderful day. I had planned to go to the Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows for Mass all week. The fact that snow was going to be on the ground gave me a new opportunity to practice a different type of photography. The Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows is a facility developed by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate and located in Belleville, IL. It hosts well over 2 million visitors each year. They come to pray. They come as pilgrims. They come for any number of the special events held throughout the year.  

I have come here many times. It was the place I had my first professional job. I attended a program known as Youth Sing Praise here, a program for theatrically talented youth to come and perform a theatrical production several thousand people every June. I have been on retreats here. I have had family celebrations here. I was even invited to the dedication of the Church of Our Lady of Snows many years ago

Our Lady of the Snows is actually a devotion stemming from Rome, where, in the year 352, some recently baptized Christians experienced a vision of Mary in a dream. The dream told them to build a church where a miracle would soon take place. On the morning of August 5, (the middle of summer) a hill in Rome was covered in snow. This became the location of the church and was dedicated to “Our Lady of the Snows.”

Of the many times I have been to the Shrine, this is one of the few times I have actually seen snow on the Shrine grounds.  The Shrine boasts amazing pilgrimage sites. Drive through Stations of the Cross. Gardens. A prayer grotto. Places for meditation.

You can learn all about the Shrine from their website, www.snows.org. I did the best I could on a pictorial of the Shrine that you can view by clicking here. REMINDER – BEFORE YOU SEE MY PICTORIALS YOU NED TO DOWLOAD GOOGLE EARTH at www.googleearth.com. My favorite recent addition to the Shrine is a playground for children surrounded by the story of Creation. I find it one of the most creative ways to celebrate the Word of God, especially for children, to be immersed in play as one prays. 

Anyway, I was disappointed today, because my memories of the Shrine come from days with sunny skies filled with friends and families. Today was cloudy and grim. The bareness of winter does not match my numerous memories of long walks of summer near welcoming green forests and flowers erupting in their beauty.  

So instead of seeing beauty today, I had to listen. Today, was declared a national day of penance by the U.S. Catholic bishops for violence against life. I am thankful that they had the wisdom in this call to penance not to merely seek an end to abortion, but also the violences of capital punishment and war.  

If you read my blog from yesterday, you should already know some of my feelings on this issue. 34 years ago today, the Supreme Court of the United States made a decision that legalized abortion in this country. Ever since then it has been a point of tension in the United States which leaves many people first, discouraged by the contention, and second, unwilling to focus on any viable solution. 

I don’t want my position to be confused. I do not advocate for abortion, and I believe that most American’s think abortion is not a good thing, even if they believe it should be someone’s choice. I will reflect later during this year upon countries where abortion is illegal, and how the streets are overrun with unwanted children. I have been in these countries before, and know that the solution does not rest merely in a law. Even if abortion was illegal tomorrow, the practice would continue. I gave an example yesterday that illegal drugs continue to flourish in our country. I would never advocate for legalizing deadly drugs in the same way I would never advocate for abortion to be legal, but if we are truly going to be free from these evils in our society, a solution needs to be found that is not only legal, but a true conversion of society that will respect life in its entirety. This is much harder than merely changing a law. 

Roe v. Wade affected my life in a very specific way in that I was born almost 2 years after the decision. My mother never had easy pregnancies and she was encouraged to save her own life by terminating the pregnancy, terminating me. She chose not to, as you can probably tell. In everyway, I have known that my life is a gift. 

As I begin to look around, I feel very sheepish. I wear clothes that I have purchased, because I have a job, which I have because of an education, which I have because of my parent’s sacrifice. The computer on which I type bears the same history. As I sit here typing, my mother mends my backpack so that I can continue my travels and my father sits at his desk, needling through stacks of paperwork, which are needed to legitimize the proceedings of Ad Sodalitatem to the state of Illinois. There never has been a way I could make this pilgrimage without them, much less the very fact that I am alive because of their constant choice to give of themselves in love for me. 

This all began to connect to me as I heard the priest say at Mass today “Life is a gift.” This phase repeated so often that it almost becomes trite. What does it mean to say “Life is a gift?” It is not merely a political slogan to be slapped on a “right-to-life” banner and marched around a street. Understanding that life is a gift means slowing down enough to realize that there is nothing I have on my own account, everything has been given to me, everything, right down to my very breath. To the best of my recollection, I never chose to be born. It was chosen for me. It is a gift, which I did nothing to deserve.  

When that powerful realization comes over a person, there is a tremendous transformation that occurs. Laws, arguments, misunderstandings, and regret all start to be realigned into a passionate love response that has no time for hurt and fear. I have to do all I can, not to be made worthy of the gift, for there is nothing I can ever do that will make me worthy of life, but to use that gift to its fullness. The great mystery is that the exhaustion of the gift of life may mean sacrificing the gift itself, so that life may continue in others. Stories where life continues through the sacrifice of life itself are the greatest stories in human history. It is the story of Christ. It is the story of my parents, who chose life, even when facing the possibility of death. 

Many of you know that a mere 16 hours before I started this pilgrimage, I was finishing a show with Porchlight Music Theater in Chicago. The show ended with these words. 

Christmas gifts, large and small

Gilding December

Helping us remember

Bidding us recall

The gift of life and the gift of love

The greatest gifts of all 

Life and love are the greatest gifts of all. Even on cloudy days that do not meet our expectations, life and love are gifts that exceed our dreams. I am forever thankful for my parents and their loving sacrifice to give me life. I love them very much and hope I can show my gratitude to them by the fullest use of my life to love fully. I also join others in prayer this day, that all in this world may see the value of life, at any stage, and the gift of life may be truly respected.