At each gathering various masses and pilgrimages occur during the day. Typically, ceremonies run from 10:00-5:00.The site is 120 miles from Los Angeles and 230 miles from Las Vegas. Many tourists have trouble finding it as the route does not have many signs, landmarks or obvious signs of activities aside from the presence of campers.

The site is surrounded by a fence. Facilities include a hut, bathrooms and a water fountain. Vehicles are parked in the desert nearby. Vendors operate just outside the venue.The gatherings attract thousands of visitors.
Received messages are translated into Spanish for the audience. Many travel from Mexico to witness this monthly event. Many tourists report unexplained experiences, such as the smell of roses in their vehicles, rapid weather changes around the area, medical cures and peaceful vibes.

The most common experience reported is a unique glare of the sun. Frequently, visitors take videos and pictures of the sky and many have supposedly captured a glare in the form of a cross, a rainbow around the sun, clouds surrounding the sun, or separated light next to the sun. Another reported occurrence is that many visitors who attempt to take a photo of the statue of the Virgin Mary outside of the hut find that their image is obscured with a white light covering the statue.”

Myself and my neighbor started out in the early am this week on the 13th morning just before Easter.  It is a very vague journey as the maps and directions are quite nondescript and not very well documented online. So I felt that I would add some more specific information on this story for anyone looking to take the pilgrimage on the 13th of the month to see Sister  Maria Paula Acuna.  I would say the easiest way is to put the address of the restaurant Green Tea Garden in your GPS located at 8126 California City Blvd California City, CA 93505. Once you reach the intersection of California City Blvd and Procter Blvd, this is where you have to go by hand written directions. It gets a bit sketchy from there. You will cross California City Blvd onto Randsburg Mojave Road. It gets a bit bleak, desolate and hard to find from here. Yet, do not give up as you will find it as we did if you are persistent. It is not very well marked or documented from this point. Randsburg Mojave Road becomes 20 Mule Team Pkwy. Keep doing down this very obscure and vacant looking 20 Mule Team Pkwy until you see this makeshift hand made sign marking Lincoln Blvd which is very sketchy looking dirt road.

Just make sure you do not go the wrong way on Lincoln Road and that you only partake in this pilgrimage on a sunny dry day. As the wrong way on Lincoln and your car could easily get trapped in mud.

The correct way is the side that has a small white makeshift sign that says LINCOLN in red writing and a very small white handmade sign in white the says in black writing OUR LADY OF THE ROCK.  These signs are faint, washed out, on a high power pole and you can easily miss them. Once you find the right direction going left on Lincoln then go up the dirt road hill until you come to the Eileen Blvd intersection. You will see the small church in the distance from this intersection. There will be a small white dome in the distance with small blue flags blowing in the wind marking the courtyard of the outdoor church ceremony. You park on the outside of the fence surround the church. It really is an all day affair so be prepared for the timing which is very nondescript. Also, this is a Spanish speaking religious ceremony for mainly Mexican patrons. The service is given in Spanish by the Spanish Catholic Nuns, a Catholic Priest, Spanish religious singing Mariachi style singers and mainly all Spanish speaking Mexican patrons. So bring a Spanish speaker with you or otherwise enjoy the beautiful ceremony but you won’t understand anything being said there.

People start parking around 10 am but the pre-service doesn’t even begin till around 11:30 am which is 2 or so hours of the religious Spanish singing in honor of the Virgin Mary. The male Spanish priests will do the prayer recital and then dedication songs follow and are repeated for approximately 2 hours. The finale is the Sister Maria Paula Acuna who is rolled out in a wheelchair at the end to speak to the patrons in Spanish. She leads a prayer to the patrons. If you are a male then if you are wearing a hat then you are requested to remove it out of respect for Sister Maria and the Virgin Mary at this time.  She is a very elderly nun who has been doing this for a very long time. Her demeanor is sweet and kind. Her presence is that of a Holy Vessel which you immediately feel the power of her presence much like people feel when near the Pope or the Dalai Lama.

The sister usually comes out to do the ceremony of the Virgin Mary where they anoint and decorate the Virgin Mary Statue with flowers and say a prayer to her. Once the prayer and ceremony are over then the patrons can line up to receive individual Blessings and Healings from Sister Maria Paula Acuna. An offering box is at the end of the stage after the blessing. It is optional and voluntary. However, all offerings help keep this beautiful church in the desert maintained and allows them to continue their work of healing. It is a long day so keep the time in mind. She comes out at around 2 pm and the blessings go on for a few hours after that. Therefore, the day typically runs from 11:30 am till 3 pm for the entire ceremony. The church is literally in the middle of nowhere so go to the restroom where you can before you get there and plan for food accordingly. If you enjoy Mexican Food then they sell Tostadas, Tamales, etc made by the Spanish Nuns behind the Church. There is also a nice well rated Chinese restaurant many go to afterward called the Green Tea Room on California City Blvd which was excellent.

As far as my own experience I will recap now.  We arrived and went in then took a front row seat directly facing the stage and the religious prayer chants, clearing energy and singing began by the religious mariachi style singers. It was the same prayer chant and songs in Spanish dedicated to Santa Maria our Saint Maria our Madre Maria. The songs made you feel calm and at peace. Then myself and my neighbor who both suffer from toxicity issues and health conditions began to have the same events happen in sync. We both went into a meditated semi-unconscious state atleast 4 times during the singing and chanting. We both felt dizzy but calm as well as a warm sensation kept enveloping our bodies. Then when Sister Maria Paula Acuna began to speak for the prayer, my face felt very hot as did my hands which were holding a rosary that belonged to a deceased dear Catholic friend and religious prayer card given to me by my mother who was a devout Baptist. It felt like Moses looking at the Burning Bush. The power being emanating from this elderly holy vessel was quite intense.

After she spoke I went into the line waiting for the blessing. As I waited, the closer I got to her the more strong my injury symptoms began. My heart and arm were throbbing by the time I arrived in front of her.  She touched the areas of my pain and prayed over them. The pain finally began to subside that nite. I woke up the following day and my face was very Pink as were my two hands as if they were in strong sun. Even though, it was a cloudy day and we were not outside in the sun long at all.  That following morning I woke for the first time with no pain in my arm or heart. So some may see this as Divine Providence, religious healing miracle or just placebo effect. Either way, I feel that something special occurred there and that Sister Maria Paula Acuna is the real deal. If anyone is in the Southern California or Las Vegas area on the 13th of the month, then I highly recommend coming to check out this little Spiritual miracle oasis in the Mojave Desert.

Link:  Our Lady of the Rock Video

Link:  Our Lady of the Rock Wikipedia

Link:  Our Lady of the Rock Book

Link:  Our Lady of the Rock USC News

Link:  Our Lady of the Rock Chamber of Commerce

Link: Our Lady of the Rock LA Times