El Santuario de Nuestro Señor de Villaseca (The Sanctuary of Our Lord of Villaseca) [Guanajuato, Guanajuato]

As anybody will know, Mexico is an extremely Catholic country (sometimes, I feel that it borders on obsession, but that’s not for me to judge). I was raised Catholic, and because of that, I was raised to pay tribute and my respects to church figures. While I am no longer a good, practising Catholic, I felt an incredible amount of peace visiting the Santuario del Senor de Villaseca (Sanctuary of Our Lord of Villaseca) in Guanajuato city today. I went to visit with my Mom, as it had been our tradition whenever we faced big challenges and hurdles.

Our Lord of Villaseca is the patron of impossible causes, and I will fully admit that I called upon him numerous times. When I was finishing my PhD. When I didn’t have funding to undertake graduate studies (neither for either of my Masters’ degrees nor to complete my doctorate. When I had my heart broken, hoping to be healed. For every single seemingly impossible challenge, I asked for his help. I now have a PhD, the best professional and personal life ever and I survived every challenge I faced.

Call it a miracle or just my tenacity, or pure sheer luck, but I’m really glad I visited to pay my respects and said “thank you”. The photograph below shows numerous messages that pay tribute and acknowledge a miracle performed by Our Lord of Villaseca. I took some time to browse the various “thank you” notes: completion of an undergraduate degree, healing of a tough illness, finding the way and quitting drugs.

The experience itself was incredibly humbling and peaceful. As I said, even as a non-practising Catholic, it gave an immense amount of peace.