The Woman Behind the Words
The Shrine welcomed a very special pilgrim during a recent October weekend on the brink of peak fall colors, our very own remote copy writer and editor, Sarah Greydanus (pictured on right). She traveled from her home in northern New Jersey for her first visit to the Shrine on October 14-15, accompanied by her friend (pictured on left). Sarah has lived in New Jersey her whole life and is the oldest of 7 children from a strong, Catholic family. In fact, her father, Deacon Steven Greydanus, is the creator of Decent Films and the former film critic for the National Catholic Register. She was homeschooled until she attended Christendom College, where she graduated as salutatorian. “My education at home and at Christendom taught me a great deal about writing, which was always something toward which I was naturally inclined,” Sarah explained during her visit. “And so naturally, since graduation, I’ve looked for ways to use that knack for writing and editing in God’s service.”
Role in Evangelization
Sarah began working for the Shrine in July 2022. She heard about the position from a friend who looked into it herself, but decided it wasn’t for her. Her friend then referred Sarah to Becket, the Director of Communications. Her duties include writing blog articles and proofreading nearly everything that comes from the Communications Department. After doing all this work remotely for the past 15 months, and having received an answered prayer for her dad to find employment, Sarah decided it was time to make a pilgrimage to the place she has loved and admired from afar for so long to offer thanksgiving to Our Lady and her Son.
Her First Pilgrimage
In describing the internal contemplations of her first pilgrimage to the Shrine, Sarah explained, “On the one hand, all the parts of the Shrine really do look just like the pictures, but on the other, there really is something special about taking the time to be there. It helps to bring depth and color to everything that I was hearing about.” It was difficult for Sarah to name her favorite part of the Shrine, although she gave special mention to the Rosary walk and described the side altar paintings as “exquisite” and “lovely.” She particularly enjoyed praying before the image of her patron, Saint Thérèse. Her appreciation for the Chapel of Our Lady of Good Counsel was communicated through smiling eyes as she described its likeness as a “miniature gothic church.” The whole pilgrimage reminded her of an Asian proverb that she recalled from her childhood: “Hearing a thing a thousand times is not as good as seeing it once.”
Sarah Greydanus, on her Pilgrimage to the Guadalupe Shrine.
The Shrine Experience
This pilgrimage will surely dictate her writing as she continues to grow in her position at the Shrine. “I had heard a lot about the ‘Shrine experience,’ and I think I might have come at it with something of the wrong expectation of being instantly blown away. I found when I got here, it was more a question of… you come in here and you’re walking around, and at some point, it sinks in that you’re really in a holy place. It doesn’t happen all at once, and maybe it doesn’t feel dramatic, but it’s really sort of quietly sublime. And it’s very peaceful. I think that’s the way God likes to work most of the time.”
Spreading Devotion
Our Lady played a pivotal role in her early faith formation. “She was the beginning of everything for me,” Sarah reminisced. From the age of 7 or 8, the Blessed Mother helped the faith become more real and vivid in Sarah’s life. “I was just enchanted with her.” She spoke with love and fondness for “this Lady, who is a great Queen,” and “the epitome of all goodness and loveliness.” As Sarah was pulled back to the present, she went on to say, “She’s always right there with me. She knows everything, cares about everything, and she’s there to lead me every step to heaven.” She hopes that her work at the Shrine “has some part in helping other people to find that joy of connection with Her and her Son.”Sarah is a cherished member of the Shrine family, especially the Communications team, and we are very blessed by the dedicated work ethic and resourcefulness with which she shares her God-given gifts to aid in spreading devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe. She strives for the truth, goodness, and beauty that will help bring pilgrims to accept the “love, compassion, help, and protection” that our merciful Mother offered in her message to Saint Juan Diego: “to all the inhabitants on this land and all the rest who love me, invoke and confide in me; [I] listen there to their lamentations, and remedy all their miseries, afflictions and sorrows.”
