The boys couldn’t wait to get off the plane and hit the road for the Mapawa Eco Camp in Cagayan de Oro. It was a reward they were looking forward to after a long school year filled with classes, quizzes, exams and projects. Their imagination couldn’t resist the various nature treats the camp offered: river trekking, zip-lining, white water rafting, horseback riding and rappelling down a vertical 65 feet cliff.

The ride to the camp was a humid, dusty and uncomfortable. Added to this discomfort was the tight squeeze the eighteen boys had to bear with their luggage inside a modest KIA van. But all these inconveniences could not dampen at the least their spirits to soon take up the challenges of the camp.

Mapawa’s camping site is located at the center of a natural geographical basin. From the bottom, one has surrounding panorama of mountains hills and forest trees. One’s senses immediately picks up the various sounds of wild animals and birds, the nearby river and the bleating of nearby flocks of sheep and goats.

One of the boys who finished pitching up his tent pulled out his cell phone and said, “I’m going to text mom to say I’m already here and okay!”

Another boy overheard him and advised, “Don’t even bother, dude! It seems there’s no signal down here.”

“What! No signal?”

“Yup, I tried texting my parents the moment we arrived, and I realized that there’s not a place here where I could even get one bar.”

“What do we do?”

I told the boy, “Don’t worry, I guess the camp manager can tell us where we could pick up some signal.” As I finished saying this, the manager coincidentally came down to check us out.

“Hi, Father. How’s everything down here?”

“Oh, everything fine…almost perfect.”

“Almost?” he asked quite puzzled.

“Oh, yes, I meant that the kids were wondering where they could get some signal around here.”

“Father, if you’re going to get any signal around here, it can only be from that point.” He pointed to the speck of a nippa hut that crowned one of the nearby hills. “That’s the camp’s highest point, and there you can get some signal.”

“There?” I said as I mentally calculated the distance from where we were and how exhausted one must get just to send home a ‘hello’.

“Oh, it’s really not as far as you think. It’s only around 20 to 30 minutes brisk walking from here.”

When the manager left, one of the kids approached me and said, “You know Father, in our newly built house, there is an image of our Lady of Fatima.”

I thought he was just being spontaneous about the topic and asked, “So what has this got to do with getting a cell signal?”

“Well, it’s funny ‘coz if you’re ever in my house you’ll think people are all praying around the statue of our Lady. But they’re really there because if you’re near the statue the cell phone signal goes up!”

Everyone who heard this laughed. “Oh, come on Miguel, you’re just pulling our leg!”

“No, guys, I’m serious. I even tried it once and it’s really beside the statue where there’s signal.”

* * *

Even though Miguel’s story can be explained by the fact that Her statue was probably just located in a place where the signal was more accessible, it still affords us a wonderful lesson about our Mother’s role in our spiritual life.

She may not be the source of grace, but our Lord had always wanted Her to be another channel for His grace in our redemption. Among the graces exclusive to Mary are Her being Jesus’s Mother, to have been the first to serve Him and listen to Him, and to share in a profound way in His Passion.

Thus, our spiritual life –like a good dish prepared for God– cannot be “complete” without that Marian flavor. This is the idea imbedded in a brief but rich spiritual consideration of St. Josemaría when he says, “We go to Jesus - and we 'return' to him - through Mary.” (The Way, #495) These words mean that every Christian must learn to see in Mary the perfect example of identifying and surrendering one’s entire life to God.

Moreover, Her life becomes for us a portrait of prayer, sacrifice and work that were carried out in all naturalness that are not hard to imitate. “Mary, the most holy Mother of God, passes unnoticed, as just one more among the women of her town. Learn from her how to live with 'naturalness'.” (Ibid, # 499)

We have only to ask ourselves if we are growing in our Marian awareness, as we seek –as good children of Hers– Her help and intercession in order to grow in our love for God as She did. Or to put it in another way, when we feel as though our “spiritual signals” are low, do we turn to Her with childlike confidence, so that She may intercede for us and lead us back to have a renewed and intense reception of the light and love of Her Son?