We called our recent tour of Europe’s sacred sites “Experiencing the Miraculous” not only because of what had taken place there in earlier times. Miracles large and small can occur for us every day; and when we go into an experience expecting wondrous things, we won’t be disappointed. Here are a few of the miraculous events that happened for me on our trip to three of the spiritual centers of Europe last month when I traveled with 157 like-minded souls to Assisi, Italy—home of Saint Francis; Lourdes, France—where a teenaged Saint Bernadette saw the Holy Mother, and Medjugorje—site of a more contemporary visit from Mary in the Balkan country of Bosnia-Herzegovina:

1. Journeying to these holy places with my three youngest kids who might not have had churches and monasteries on their list of top places to see this summer, but who came alive with the spiritual power we encountered and became fully engaged members of this pilgrimage.
2. Meeting a woman from Slovenia who joined our group for dinner near Medjugorje and learning that she had just watched The Shift the night before and was carrying with her a Slovenian copy of You’ll See It When You Believe It.
3. Lecturing in a 1000-year-old church in Assisi, reading a scene from Nikos Kazantzakis’ Saint Francis where Francis conquers his fear and embraces a leper, and suddenly sobbing uncontrollably while the audience stood with their hands extended toward me in silent sympathy.
4. Seeing an endless number of orbs in the many, many photos that people took of the lectures and the sites we visited.
5. Joining the thousands of pilgrims who waited patiently for a chance to bathe in the healing waters at Lourdes and emerging like everyone else with a renewed spirit and no trace of having been near anything wet.

The list of healings, connections, and awakenings is just beginning to unfold for us travelers newly home from a magical journey. We were people from all continents and every generation—teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and two in their 80s. And it all started with a dream about how wonderful it would be to visit these three spirit-filled places with a group of like-minded seekers. Saint Francis worked to help the people of his day experience the joy of a spirit-centered, Christ-conscious life. We modern-day visitors to his earthly home got to walk a little way on his path and feel the power of people united in spirit—in oneness. Now we are obligated to honor that experience by going out into the world to live from the elevated consciousness of Saint Francis and pay the gift forward in our lives.