Every 15 minutes at Our Lady of Guadalupe in Tivoli, the siren song of church bells echo across town.
The bell tower sits atop the quiet, quaint church at the end of William Street, across from a few sleepy houses and the occasional cat roaming the surrounding wooded lots.
It's the perfect location for a grotto and sanctuary garden where members can visit and meditate in prayer.
A few years ago, in 2008, the church received its prayer garden - an 8-by-8-foot tiled area with concrete benches and concrete statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the center.
"Guadalupe's favorite flowers were roses, so I wanted to put roses around her," said John Moraida, a professional floral designer at Devereaux Gardens in Victoria. "It's just so peaceful out here, and that's what I wanted this place to be for those who came."
Moraida grew up in the Tivoli church and has seen many priests come and go in his 68 years.
And in that time, he's made many trips to William Street for quiet meditation time.
"A lot of people want to come here and sit, but the church remains locked most of the time," he said. "So, I wanted to provide a place they could come that could be outdoors."
Moraida's decision to build the grotto at Our Lady of Guadalupe was not exclusively altruistic.
During a low period in his life in the 1970s, he was experiencing a personal and financial struggle that always led him to pray to God and Guadalupe.
"I asked her to help me with my struggle, and if she did, I promised her I'd build this for her," Moraida said, remembering his "promesa" more than 25 years ago. "She helped me during that time, and gave me the peace I needed."
Except he wasn't at peace.
Each time he remembered his promesa to Guadalupe and his childhood church, he was overwhelmed with guilt that he didn't build the prayer garden.
"It haunted me," Moraida said. "I thought about it all the time."
While working in the floral industry for decades, using his gifts for gardening and floral design for others, Moraida said he knew he would never be at peace until he fulfilled his promise.
So in 2008, he spent $2,200 for the supplies and plants he needed and built the garden on the front, left side of the church.
"I chose plants that I knew wouldn't need much care," he said, mentioning he makes it out to Tivoli about once a month to maintain the garden.
He chose cactus plants, palm trees, Indian hawthorn and pink knock out roses.
"What's amazing to me is the roses turned red, which I originally wanted to put red roses out here rather than pink," he said. "So even the roses turning red is a miracle to me."
The Rev. Paulson Antony Panakal, the priest of Our Lady of Guadalupe, said Moraida's gift to the church has been well received among members.
"It is very nice and people like it," he said, in a pronounced Indian accent. "We enjoy it very much."
Moraida said since the garden's erection in 2008, he's seen many people come by and visit. They leave ornaments on the statue and light candles around the garden. They use the quiet space to think and pray and spend time in the sunlight.
And that's what Moraida truly wanted to give others - the peace that Guadalupe had given him.
"I could have given the church money, a check for $2,200, but this way this will be here long after I'm gone," he said. "And I got to use my gardening gifts to complete the job."
(Used with permission from the Victoria Advocate.)