Strange as it seems, this journey is something you have always yearned for. And this one-of a-kind travel takes you by the hand. First, someone invites you and respond positively because it takes you to countries you read only from books or glimpse from channels or blockbusters.

You don’t have to be the prayerful or the reflective kind. All you need is an open mind to this journey cum pilgrimage. You have to be one with your leader in terms of warm eagerness or in joyful expectation of something new, something different and definitely, something remarkable.

For instance, you go to a town that lies in the foothills of the Pyrenees, to Lourdes, France where a beautiful lady who called herself as the Immaculate Conception manifested herself to an impoverished sick child named Bernadette. Here you wonder in amazement how a teenager could live such a holy, blessed life even as she became an ordinary nun in a convent in Nevers, France. You visit her cachot, a tiny barn in Massabielle and the Grotto where the Lady appeared to Bernadette. Visit the sanctuaries or walk the steep Way of the Cross. There are many activities you can do in deep devotion as you leave the place with a firm resolve to change. Change for the better has never been easy but the Lady’s help, you can do it. Just believe and be faithful to this call for conversion. You cannot imagine what rewards this inner change does for you and for your loved ones. More importantly, the community you work in or the society you serve absorbs the largest good brought about by your efforts to become a better person. You leave Lourdes feeling that you have been a witness to an "apparition."

Fatima, in Portugal, is no less memorable. Visit the Basilica and the tombs of Francisco and Jacinta. You come to realize that once again, the Lady, manifests herself to simple individuals who are open to the call of conversion, to an invitation to be different and stand out. Remember the bounty, the benediction that comes from doing right, living honorably and seeking those who need help or comfort, encouragement or hope.

In Santarem, Portugal a visit to the church of St. Stephen brings you face to face with the bleeding Host. A magical experience or a sign of divine consolation? Whatever, this becomes a trip more fabulous than a walk in outer space or a flight with Superman.

Watch out for distractions in your life even as you marvel at the city of Barcelona in Spain where you find the Sagrada Familia by a well-known artist, Gaudi. Drive through many picturesque villages till you arrive at the mountain of Montserrat where the Romanesque carving of the Black Virgin or Virgin Moreneta is enshrined. In Zaragoza, Spain, the visit to the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar affords you a pleasurable experience – nothing less than a moving experience of what one does in the name of love and loyalty.

Santiago de Compostela in Spain is one drive through the woods of loveliness and hills of fortitude. Why is St. James the patron saint of Spain? Discover for yourself and you will realize that nothing comes from nothing and that only one’s perseverance, one’s struggle through adversities or disappointments does one learn how to be strong and compassionate.

The Eternal City of Rome, in Italy, is a favored place for pilgrims. Symbolically, this is where the head of the Catholic Church lives. See and be blessed by Pope Benedict XVI and enjoy the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. Here, amidst a breathtaking view of splendid works of art, the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God and of the Church, is exalted. So will you grasp the gift of grace that fills your heart as you take the Lady’s hand and allow yourself to be humbled, healed and "resurrected." Yes, you can rise with every fall, you can smile with every tear as long as your heart is pure.

The Scala Sancta monument and the Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano offer more intense participations in the realm of the spiritual and the divine. Of course, the city of Rome fulfills your fantasy for the art, the culture of the sophisticate or the commonness of being lost in the world of materialism or commercialism.

To those who would like to have this kind of journey, e-mail: chitdelatorre@yahoo.com