Oases of Faith

“Faith is an oasis in the heart…”— Khalil Gibran

What nourishes and provides refuge when our journeys in life stumble into a desert? What springs forth to refresh us when our life is a wasteland?

Oases of faith. We draw from them when we need fortitude, when we’re dehydrated from the scorching heat of everyday life — when we’re mourning a loss, when we’re lost.

The oasis is deep within us. But God has always showered us with other oases of faith, both man-made and natural, that reaffirm what words sometimes cannot: There is a Being so magnificent He creates wonders — on a rocky mountain, on an icy sea, in the baby asleep beside you.

Today, as we mark Holy Thursday, I’d like to share with you some of the oases of faith that have refreshed my life. If you can, drop by these oases as you journey through life.

1. The Holy Land — For the truly faithful, one need not see to believe. But I tell you, to see is to believe even more. The only place Jesus Christ ever walked on earth was the Holy Land. How does one begin to describe the feeling, nay, the experience, of being in places where Jesus Christ lived, preached, basked in glory, suffered and died?

2. Meryem Ana Evi or Mary’s House in Ephesus, Turkey — It was actually our Turkish guides, who were Muslim, who made my visit to Mary’s House in Ephesus unforgettable. Mary’s House sits on top of a hill, where John the Apostle is believed to have taken her during her twilight years. We visited Mary’s House at dusk, and as the sun was dipping like an egg yolk on the horizon, our group (Christians) and our guides (Muslims), held hands and prayed. We were one.

3. The Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal — The highlight of my “discovery” of Portugal was a visit my husband Ed and I made to Fatima, where we saw the chapel built near the oak tree where Mary appeared in 1917 to the three children, Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco. Beside the chapel, a basilica was built and surrounding both the basilica and the chapel is a square that is bigger than St. Peter’s Square; it can accommodate over one million pilgrims. The peace I felt in that little chapel in Fatima I will always cherish.

4. Lourdes, France — In this age of coincidences and cures, of scientific breakthroughs and inexplicable interventions, of blind faith and blatant skepticism, why do over six million people still go to Lourdes each year, year after year, some over and over again, to seek a miracle from its waters? A visit there recalls the Memorare: “Remember, oh most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known, that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession, was left unaided…”

5. Our Lady of Montserrat near Barcelona  — Faith can move mountains; and men can move mountains because of their faith. Our Lady of Montserrat (The Black Madonna) is nestled in a basilica tucked into a rugged mountain range called the “saw mountains,” about 45 minutes by car from the city of Barcelona. It is no breeze to venerate Our Lady there, especially in the days when the only way to reach the shrine was on foot, or through mule-drawn carriages. I’ve always believed that when great effort and sacrifice are exerted and expended in the exercise of faith, the pilgrim is strengthened. The effort is a prayer in itself.

6. The Hubbard Glacier in Alaska – An Alaskan cruise in May 2013 took us close to the Hubbard Glacier, a sight so magnificent it was an altar in itself, and those who beheld it all but genuflected in praise of the Creator. I was simply slain by the sight of a monument of blue ice (glacial ice is blue because the dense ice of the glacier absorbs every other color of the spectrum except blue) against a backdrop of snow-covered mountains, floating on icy waters. If the Alaskan skies were a canvas, then this was God’s masterpiece in ice. A frozen oasis, but an oasis of faith nonetheless.

7. Wells of Sta. Lucia in Taal, Batangas  — This spring-fed well where two women saw the reflection of the Virgin of Caysasay, is now known as the Miraculous Well of Sta. Lucia.  The spot where the well, which reflected the image of Our Lady is marked by a coral stone arch with a bas-relief image of the Virgin on its façade. It was built in the early 17th century.

I love it for its simplicity. You fetch water from the well, salok-salok style. Literally an oasis, it is said to spring forth water with miraculous healing and therapeutic powers.

Stop by an oasis of faith. After all, even web pages need to be refreshed.

(You may e-mail me at [email protected].)