Part 1- This is the first of four installments of a special Constant Procession miniseries series to celebrate the 200th year of the Erie Canal and how my creation of a documentary about the canal brought me closer to the Virgin Mary.

During the movie shoots over a 5-year period I discovered that as I traveled to parts of New York State unknown to me, I found the Virgin Mary was always there.

I became more sensitive to the real nature of her presence and I've continued to find her as I go on my overseas travels.

Part 1 covers the reasons for the need of a canal in the early years of the United States of America. And the episode ends with the person responsible for making the project happen.

Here is the beginning of the story:

A big part of America's history almost never got built. Its builders ignored presidential advice, risked millions of dollars, and changed the course of America's society by building a ditch.

Work was begun in 1817 and completed in only seven years. But it was not simply a matter of digging a few trenches to link one river to a second and a third and so on.

This was a man-made ditch, four feet deep, the height of an average car, and 40 feet wide, the width of a four-lane highway, 363 miles long, running almost the entire length of New York State, from East in Albany to West in Buffalo.

There are links, photos and more about this on my website.

Pray for this war in the Middle East to end.

Also, Pray for the People of Ukraine. There are links for ways to support them on my website: NikosSteves.com

I have written a contemporary novel with Christian themes entitled "The Very Fine Light"

Preview it for FREE and/or purchase "The Very Fine Light" at Amazon.com

I value feedback through the comments section on my website, NikosSteves.com

Or via email at [email protected]

Constant Procession tells of key apparitions of the Virgin Mary since she passed on from the world and how she serves humanity through Christianity.

The origin of these podcasts began with my first book, The Constant Procession.

Constant Procession (the podcast) is published every Tuesday morning and has links, photos, video and more information for each episode at NikosSteves.com