During Christian missions in the United States, it is a privilege to visit nearby parishes with beautiful stained glass and special architecture.

While making a pilgrimage to various American parishes to attend daily Mass, I became more conscious of the constant prayers and the sincere and faithful devotion of people in attendance and participating in Confession. Various families coming to the church with their children also emanated hope.

Furthermore, visiting a shrine to attend Mass is akin to making a pilgrimage to the holy place. A shrine, small or big, always invites us to experience God's love, forgiveness and mercy in a prayerful, devoted and peaceful atmosphere.

One day, using the Mass Times for Travel app to find a service nearby, I chose St. Madeleine Catholic Church in High Springs, Florida. Surprisingly, I found out that a shrine called Santa Fe Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche is attached to St. Madeleine Catholic Church, which was built in 1979 on the site of the Red Dragon drive-in theater.

The spacious and beautiful grounds around the shrine invite the visitors to experience relaxation, prayer, contemplation and gratitude. Hoping to be a spiritual place for healing and forgiveness, those related to the shrine are now raising funds to maintain, renovate and improve the holy campus.

After attending Mass at 8:30 a.m. in the shrine, I strolled along the Emmaus Walk, a nature path leading to the outdoor Marian Grotto and the Stations of the Cross, surrounded by tall trees.

Just near the shrine, there was the cemetery and Memorial Gardens with inspiring statues, brick walkways and benches for prayer and meditation.

The Christian tradition for the devotion of Our Lady of La Leche originates the story of the Holy Family. There was a cave, not far from Bethlehem, where the Holy Family of Mary and Joseph with the baby Jesus took refuge during the Slaughter of the Holy Innocents. Blessed Mother Mary and Joseph with Jesus stayed there before their flight to Egypt, and Mary nursed baby Jesus in that cave.

Known as the "Milk Grotto," the cave in Bethlehem has become a place of pilgrimage for couples hoping to conceive a child, to receive a peaceful birth and plenty of milk when the child arrives.

In Spain, during the 16th century, the name Our Lady of La Leche took root and a shrine was erected in honor of Mary under this title. "La leche," means breast milk in Spanish.

The devotion to Our Lady of La Leche was deepened thanks to Spanish settlers establishing the town of St. Augustine in Florida in 1565. And the shrine was originally built in 1609 in honor of Our Lady of La Leche.

In 1620, a chapel to Our Lady of the Milk and Good Delivery was built in St. Augustine with a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As the oldest shrine in the United States, it is now located at the Nombre de Dios Mission in St. Augustine, Florida, and it was elevated to national shrine status in 2019.

Thanks to many pilgrims, the devotion to Mary of the breast milk (La leche) still continues. Wishing to have a happy delivery, many couples visit the shrine.

The author is a member of the Daughters of St. Paul. Please feel free to visit her blog "A piece of sunshine" at mtorchid88.blogspot.com.