Visiting the Mother Cabrini Shrine

When the opportunity presented itself for a visit at the Mother Cabrini Shrine one afternoon I snagged it. I heard so much about this place, largely from a lightning strike one year, that I was interested in stopping in to see the shrine and learn about who Mother Cabrini was.

Now, after 13 years of Catholic schooling, I’m not much of a religious person. I tend to be as stubborn as they come so I guess I just don’t like someone telling me what to think and how to believe; it just all bothers me. I like to have my own ideas and beliefs on things and go from there.

Still though, I was intrigued by the shrine.

I pulled off I70 and headed up the winding road to the parking lot. For quite some time on this day the check engine light was on on my car and it was rather bothering. But, I was close to the end of the trip for the day and just figured I’d take it in on the next, no big deal. It was probably just bothered anyway from driving at the higher elevations up around Mt. Evans.

Anyway, not knowing who Mother Cabrini was I picked up a flyer there and did a bit of nosing. I can’t say I was surprised by her background, it seemed to be the perfect fit for a saint, but I was surprised by just that – that she was a saint. I’ll certainly admit, despite the schooling, that I don’t know all of the saints by any means, but I sure was surprised to find that she was canonized the first saint from America (even though she was actually born in Italy) by Pope Pius XII.

Of course Pius is the one with the checkered past with the Nazis and the Holocaust, but I don’t think that should lessen what Mother Cabrini did by any means.

When my friend and I got to the shrine we took the long walk up several hundred stairs, lined with the Stations of the Cross, to get to the 22-foot-tall statue of Jesus. Surrounding the statue are ten tablets with the Commandments, a memorial to Mother Cabrini and an area for personal reflection. It’s all really quite peaceful and serene, making it a perfect spot for prayer.

At the base of the hill there is a small chapel as well as a garden for meditation. I can’t necessarily say that either of these spots did much for me, almost feeling a bit too forced in their place, but the area on the hill did give me a moment of pause and reflection. A little candle flickered in me again reminding what a great world we live in and that someone or something greater than all of us created it.

I was quite pleased with the random stop and chance to learn about Mother Cabrini. It’s unfortunate that the larger chapel and gift shop at the top of the huge parking lot were closed though. I would’ve liked to have gone in and asked a few questions and seen a bit more of the area. I was feeling inspired and interested and wanted to see what more I could find. It was not to be though, so we headed back to Denver.

And oh, what about my check engine light? Well, after climbing the hill and visiting the gardens and chapel below, it was off once we turned the car back on. Maybe it was because we were no longer 14,000 feet above sea level and maybe it was something else. I’ll honestly never definitively know, but I most certainly will wonder if wasn’t some very small miracle for little old me.