We woke up yesterday morning and my husband made the beautiful suggestion of taking our three youngest children to Holy Hill near Hartford, Wisconsin. It was a beautiful Fall day and we decided to make a day of it. We planned to attend Mass at 11:00 and spend the rest of the day exploring the grounds and showing our children this beautiful National Shrine.
Well, we made it to Holy Hill at 11:09... we hadn't counted on the parking and the climb to the Church, not to mention we had several detours along our route. We decided to take the children and climb the steeple tower. I had visited Holy Hill many times as a child but had never been able to climb the tower. Here are some photos of our sights...
We took the children to the lower chapel, under the main Church and went to sit in a pew to pray. It is a Chapel of St. Terese of the Child Jesus. Our youngest, five years old, kept crawling over the backs of our legs as we were praying. I finally asked her to please settle down and tell Jesus how much she loved him. She leaned into my ear and whispered, "Mama, can you take me back there?" ...and she pointed to the back of the Church. I really didn't want to disturb the many people in prayer, so I gave in to her. We left the pew, genuflected, and walked to the back of the Chapel, hand in hand. We reached the last pew and she started pulling my arm to the left. She told me, "Mama, I want to pray here!" And she led me to a side altar where there was a statue of the infant Jesus. She let go of my hand and knelt on the marble step right in front of the side altar. She folded her hands... and there she stayed.
A group of women came into the Chapel and saw her kneeling in prayer. They began to take pictures of her. She never turned around. She continued to pray through all of the flashbulbs going off and through all of their whispers.
She stayed in prayer for at least ten minutes... in fact it may have been longer. She looked so small kneeling on the marble step in front of the large altar. I had my camera, but I didn't want to take away from her beautiful moments in prayer to her little Jesus. I found a picture that comes close to the statue she loved so dearly, but the one above the altar was all in white.
She calls Him her "Little Jesus".
May your day be filled with the knowledge that God is always present and waiting for you to call out to Him. He loves you so very much!
Mary
mom_of_six
Jesus, I trust in You!
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