The climate and access to clean water might be the most serious issues in the world. According to “Water Mission,” two billion people around the world lack access to safe water, and the lack of it causes water-related illnesses and inadequate sanitation.
Some sensitive guides who are concerned about the water supply system in Mexico due to water scarcity and droughts, inadequate drinking water quality, wastewater treatment and inefficient utilities suggest that travelers should not drink tap water.
The five basic elements in the composition of the universe are wood, fire, earth, metal and water. As one of the most basic resources of the world, water is so precious in our daily lives. How can we survive without water? In my case, I drink three cups of water early in the morning when I get up.
Recently, thanks to Mustard Seed Book Club members, I made a pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico. The old Cathedral of Guadalupe was built from 1695 to 1709, and the new Basilica was built from 1974 to 1976. Since Our Lady of Guadalupe was proclaimed the patron saint of the Americas in 1946, the largest number of pilgrims visit this holy site every year.
It was cloudy on the first day of our pilgrimage and it drizzled in the morning of the second day. Our knowledgeable and relaxed guide said that it was the rain of blessings because Mexicans expected and waited for the rain to come. Especially in an agricultural society, water and rain are most necessary to cultivate crops. So, during the times of droughts, farmers pray most sincerely for the coming of the rain.
During my pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the most impressive symbol that I noticed was the water. Everybody would agree that the water gives us life, strength, energy and vitality. That would be why the image and the motive of water are deeply embedded both in culture and in various works of sculptures and architecture.
Probably thanks to the influence of the Aztec civilization, various fountains and ponds are spread here and there on the compound of the Basilica and in the artistic public buildings such as Camino Real Polanco Hotel and the National Museum of Anthropology.
“The Source of Eternal Motion” created by Mexican Architect Ricardo Legorreta (1931-2011) in 1968 reveals a constantly waving fountain day in and day out. During the day, the fountain rises from the round edge into a semicircle. At night, the fountain moves around like dynamic waves at its center.
In the gardens on the way to Tepeyac Hill where Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared four times to Juan Diego (1474-1548), the water gushes from various fountains and waterfalls. The greeting statues of Juan Diego with his Tilma (mantle) and Don Juan de Zumarraga are standing in the middle of the gardens.
In the garden on the left, the tall statue of Christ the King stands on the globe. Just behind this statue stands the surrounding wall like a folding screen. In the middle of it, there is a fountain in the shape of a cross, and a water flows out from half of the cross.
The Chapel of the Pond (Capilla del Pocito) preserves the Spring of the Miracle (Pozo del Milagro) that occurred in the fourth apparition site of Our Lady of Guadalupe. In various forms, the water gives us a strong image of renewal, healing, hope and life.
“Whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14)
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.
A spring of water
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11.03.2024
The climate and access to clean water might be the most serious issues in the world. According to “Water Mission,” two billion people around the world lack access to safe water, and the lack of it causes water-related illnesses and inadequate sanitation.
Some sensitive guides who are concerned about the water supply system in Mexico due to water scarcity and droughts, inadequate drinking water quality, wastewater treatment and inefficient utilities suggest that travelers should not drink tap water.
The five basic elements in the composition of the universe are wood, fire, earth, metal and water. As one of the most basic resources of the world, water is so precious in our daily lives. How can we survive without water? In my case, I drink three cups of water early in the morning when I get up.
Recently, thanks to Mustard Seed Book Club members, I made a pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe........
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