IS HOLY SPOT PLACE OF REFUFGE?

There was a lot of response to an article last week taking a look at the notion -- contained in a recent purported prophecy -- that seemed to cite two places as "beacons of light" in the darkness of coming times.

One area was named -- New Mexico -- while the other -- which could be any number of places -- was simply described as having a Cross near water. "New Mexico I have ordained as a beacon of light," said a third part of what we call the 1990 prediction (an anonymous locution), "and also the place near the water where the cross stands."

Others have pointed to "a 100-foot Cross overlooking the Colorado River in Ballinger, Texas," as one viewer noted. "It is called 'The Cross' and it is illuminated at night and serves as a beacon from many miles around." An even taller Cross in St. Augustine, Florida -- at the spot where many believe the first documented Mass in North America was held -- is seen far out at sea. Other crosses, of more recent vintage, are in places like Lyman, New Hampshire, where on August 1, 2010, a viewer took an interesting photo of it at dusk (above, left) and then in the dark, illuminated (above, right) at a stretch of woods that some say is a refuge.

Then there's the large cross just recently erected in Kerrville, Texas (which some feel could be considered "New Mexico" as well!), It's near the (Our Lady of) Guadalupe River. Yet another Cross towers in Illinois.

Let's stick with New Mexico, which got the most mail, and which is a state that, ironically, a priest we admire with mystical gifts says he was told would be a place of safety and spiritual nourishment in the coming times. Later, in trying to discern this, his prayer group came up with a vicinity called "Angel Fire."

It's impossible to know what to make of such arcania but we are intrigued because a few parts of the 1990 prophecy have materialized during the past two decades (the rest needs to be discerned) and because, well, we like mysteries.

Ironically, Angel Fire is in a part of the Rockies called the Sangre de Cristo mountains that stretch down from Colorado and means "Blood of Christ," because of how red they get at sunrise (or perhaps sunset).

There are a number of locales in those mountains that viewers said may fit the bill, especially a place located about thirty minutes north of Santa Fe, New Mexico in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo called Chimayó. "Chimayó was founded near the end of the 17th century by Spanish settlers in a fertile valley nourished by the Santa Cruz River and protected by the surrounding foothills," notes a website. "Chimayó is also believed by many to be the site of a miracle which occurred about two hundred years ago. Miraculous healings are believed to have occurred at the site where a wooden Crucifix was unearthed."

Because of that, a chapel called el Santuario de Nuestro Señor de Esquipulas was built in 1816 (now referred to as el Santuario de Chimayó), destination for thousands of pilgrims and travelers each year who come for various reasons -- "some hoping to be healed, some simply for curiosity, and some hoping to be restored spiritually by the tranquility and hospitality of the surroundings."

Notes another site: "Sometime around 1810, a Chimayó friar was performing penances when he saw a light bursting from a hillside. Digging, he found a crucifix, quickly dubbed the miraculous Crucifix of Our Lord of Esquipulas. A local priest brought the crucifix to Santa Cruz, but three times it disappeared and was later found back in its hole. By the third time, everyone understood that El Senor de Esquipulas wanted to remain in Chimayó, and so a small chapel was built on the site. Then the miraculous healings began. These grew so numerous that the chapel had to be replaced by the larger, current Chimayó shrine -- an adobe mission -- in 1816. El Santuario de Chimayó is now known (at least locally) as the 'Lourdes of America.' The Crucifix still resides on the chapel altar, but for some reason its curative powers have been overshadowed by El Posito, the 'sacred sand pit' from which it sprang, which gapes unevenly behind the main altar. Over 300,000 people visit this 'dustbin o' Heaven' every year."

In Santa Fe itself is an allegedly miraculous staircase some believe was built by angels or even St. Joseph and what others say is the oldest Madonna (while others argue that the oldest Madonna is at the Shrine of the Martyrs in Auriesville, New York; the oldest Marian shrine, meanwhile, is in St. Augustine (Our Lady of La Leche, near the ocean and the Cross!).

Others mention a Cross near Los Angeles, and adds Mark Anthony Joseph Uriarte: "There is another Cross by the water that may fit the bill that stands atop the highest point in San Francisco at over 900 feet. Atop Mount Davidson, which I believe is named after King David, it overlooks the Pacific and Bay of San Francisco which is seven miles or less away. It was built in 1933 and 1934. On the evening it was dedicated, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt pulled a switch in the White House and lit up the Cross for all to see at night as well as during the day. It remained lit up at night every night until 1973, when people in the area claimed the light was too bright and so they won a battle to turn off the light."

Notes Dianne Gordon: "I just wanted to let you know of another site with a Cross near water. It is the 'Katrina' memorial Cross in St Bernard Parish, Louisiana."

"It struck me that there is a Shrine here in the Midwest with a Cross, other than Effingham which you spoke of," said Barbara Bernardi of Pleasant Plains, Illinois. "The Shrine of Our Lady of Snows at Belleville, Illinois, is dedicated to the first Church of Our Lady. The Shrine is about fifteen miles from the mighty Mississippi at St. Louis. The main outdoor amphitheater shrine is topped by a Cross, but is represented as the Holy Spirit coming down upon the world."

The mail was all over the place! Meanwhile: spiritual or physical refuge? We don't advocate running for the hills, but neither do we pretend to know the future. With that in mind we hear from a viewer named Ann Johnson who said:

"About a year and a half ago my husband and I visited New Mexico taking in the Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Taos areas. We visited the church where the Sisters of Loretto established their mission in hopes of seeing the staircase but a wedding was in progress and therefore just took in the exterior of the property.

"We drove through the beautiful mountains containing Los Alamos, which was not mentioned in your article. Much of it is off limits as it continues to be used by our government for 'scientific purposes' that our military uses as a resource to develop and evolve science both for the the military and for the civilian community. As many know, Los Alamos came to be as a secret scientific community our government created in order to build the atomic bomb in the 'Manhattan Project' during World War Two. At the time it was so secretive that babies born there were given a different place of birth to keep the public from knowing the truth. There are numerous doorways or entrances into the mountains for these projects to take place in secret. As I read your editorial article my thought was 'Why not Los Alamos as a place of refuge. It's elaborately burrowed into rocky, tree-covered mountains likely to withstand disasters.' And it lies at the southern end of the Rocky Mountain range. In fact, Los Alamos as I understand it is in earth created by lava from a nearby basin and volcanic mountain."

And then there are (perhaps) the mystical insights: "When I read your article tonight, I was immediately struck by the satellite image of the 'Sangre de Cristo Mountains' which immediately reminded me of a dream [I had]," said yet one more viewer, in a little torrent of mail. "The image is eerily similar to the mountain landscape in my dream. In the dream I literally felt myself fly up over the mountains to the flat plateau as though in a helicopter or plane, so I could see the landscape from high in the air (although not as high as this satellite image). I remember a vast flat plateau stretching beyond the horizon. I seem to recall that there was another range of mountains peaking out along that horizon, but what really stays in my mind is the vast flat landscape, and dry barren land. I do not recall a red color.

"In my dream, I saw a small band of riders on white stallions leap into deep, pure-white snowdrifts at the bottom of a very steep, rocky, mountain as they began their ascent up the snowy mountain," says J. Spearing. "The virginal snow glistened as it sprayed outward and down behind them as the horses were buried up to their hind quarters in deep snow, slowing their advance but having no affect whatsoever on the enthusiasm or intent of the riders. The men were robed in pure white capes made of soft white fur emblazoned with an emblem on the back, and beautiful trim along the edge. The lead rider wore a crown.

"I understood immediately that he was a king and the small band of about a dozen men were his royal entourage. I also understood that this king was returning home and that he had been gone for a very, very, long time, so long in fact that his people had almost lost hope in his return. I experienced the separation between him and his people in my soul and knew his arrival was long in coming. I also sensed his longing for his own people and felt the urgency with which he rushed forward to be reunited with them. In the next moment, I was on the far side of the mountaintop, which was like a high, flat plateau.

"The landscape was brown and barren and dry. In the vast openness, I could see a people huddled tightly in a large mass out in the open desert. I could not see individual human faces in this mass of desert dwellers. It was as if they were one and not many, though I knew there were many of them huddled together in this tight crowd. They clung tightly to one another as they waited for their king. Immediately I found myself in a structure constructed only of posts, beams and roof but without exterior walls. I could see the arid outdoor landscape from within and the crowd off in the distance. In this shelter, fine clothing designed for men, women, children, and infants hung along interior walls or were folded neatly on shelves. The garments were handmade from very fine, natural fabric, and were decorated in a way that reminded me of American Indian clothing."

"The prophecy about New Mexico just makes my soul smile," said a viewer named Patty. "The natural elements in Sangre de Cristo range are stunning to any person’s senses – spiritual and physical. The canyons north and south are replete with nourishing herbs, a wide array of edible flowers that people go out of their way to cultivate at homes around the country. All this seems to have been preserved somehow from hikers and masses of people tramping about or poisoned rain killing the forest, but what strikes me as most unusual when I camped there for the first time was the taste of the air; it was delicious, perfect to exist on. I am one of those 'sensitive' people and dislike the 'air' I usually see and taste around town.

One of my colleagues is a part-time, non-paid, philanthropic archeologist whose studies of the history of missions, shrines, churches, and peoples in the southwest is wonderful – it has been his hobby for decades. Chimayo is what we thought for the 'beacon of light' because of its history and sacredness. Taos, years ago had become the New Age Center for the Southwest. Artists, craftspersons and New Age healers all flocked there back in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s (the cool Hollywood set). Now that has changed and those that were there have a place called 'Ghost Ranch' which is now 'The Place' for the New Age Hollywood types to gather near a Protestant Church and the land they own is vast. There are also some extremely evil elements hiding in New Mexico and the surrounding area – on the sorcery side: Santeria, Mexican Satanists. My take is that we have lived in communities, towns, cities for years taking the providence God has granted us; Jesus does not want us to run away to a 'safe refuge.' '…He is in the desert…..He is over there….' just because we heard a prophecy. It is my understanding that we all are in spiritual debt to the people we have lived with for decades and years and this is where our spiritual repayment must begin. Where we have lived and been nourished for so many years. At the right time the people who have fed at the Altar of God must share with those who have been lost in the darkness."

Indeed, we must be cautious. There is also a major New Age center on the Colorado side of the Sangre de Cristo (about 77 miles southwest of Colorado Spring at Crestone, operated by a major player at the United Nations named Maurice Strong and seeking to unite world religions).

Finally: "Regarding this 11:11 business, something just happened that I wish to share with you," wrote Rick Sauro. "While my wife and I continue to be slightly awed at how many times this time comes up, this one takes the cake (at least for me). While making the rounds on the web of my spiritual websites (like yours) I had the television on and was also listening to the news. An item came on and the woman anchor was reporting the presentation of a giant Buddha in Toronto. In the news item, she used the terms 'his holiness' and 'scripture' in a Buddhist sense. It caused me to groan and sigh and I said something to myself like, how pagan are we getting, now we have giant Buddha and the news is using Catholic language in regard to it. The news did not bother to mention anything concerning the canonization of Brother André, a matter of special importance to Canadians.I was very saddened and hurt by what I had just heard because it so accurately reflected the current Spiritual state of so many Canadians today.

"Then the anchorwoman closes by saying, 'the time is now 11:11 -- hum, I wonder what that means? -- maybe good luck!'

"Well, that struck me so profoundly that I am taking the trouble to pass this on to you. My personal take of this incident is that correction is on the way and very near.

"Perhaps this not new for those who are continuing the 'good fight' but for me at that moment it was definitely a consolation that encourages me not to become discouraged."

Last but not least, Carol Pilan, who observed: "As I was walking to the Adoration Chapel this morning I had to walk in front of the church and looking up at the big cross in front of the church building the thought crossed my mind that ''There is the place near the water where the cross stands.' I thought of the Holy Water font at the entrance where I bless myself before Mass. Once at the chapel before the Blessed Sacrament, after spending some quiet time with the Lord, I randomly opened the Bible to Ezekiel 46 and onto 47, The Wonderful Stream. How great is our Lord!"

Amen!

[resources: Tower of Light and Retreat, Mass in Cleveland, November 6]