Headwaters Inspiration
- A place of healing, joy, and wonder -
Reflections from Headwaters Board Members
The first time I went to the Blue Hole I felt the creative energy coming from flowing waters and a sense of sacredness that offered me a place to offer my prayers and sit quietly while looking down into the depths of the flowing water to see beyond to another Source. Here one can truly sense the Sisters call to the healing ministry of Jesus Christ. These are, indeed, healing waters.
On the trails of the Headwaters Sanctuary, I discovered different groves of trees. There I felt the joy of a child looking with wonder at the canopy and majesty of the trees that seemed to reach the sky. I was reminded of the Celtic tradition’s recognition of “thin places “as places in creation that reveal heaven and earth are closer than we imagine. The Headwaters Sanctuary is a ‘thin place’ where heaven and earth truly do come together.
I have invited people like my students, strangers, and friends to enter this place to breathe in more deeply the beauty and hospitality of the earth. Here the interconnectedness of creation comes more vividly to us in everything we see, hear, and touch. People are often surprised by this hidden wonder in the midst of the city around it.
These gifts of creation are given for our healing, joy, and wonder. We are called to freely give gifts we have received and to share this with all people as a reflection of the Sister’s ministry. It is a blessing and an honor to be a part of the beautiful circle of volunteers, board members, and people working together with the Sisters to preserve, educate, and offer our community this glimpse of God’s Glory.
Sylvia Maddox
Board Member
Photo above: Blue Hole reflection
Photo to right: giving a Headwaters Sanctuary guided walk
Each of us has so many thoughts about the significance of the Sanctuary. It is natural, it is historic, it is a treasure in the midst of a major city, it is a place of reflection, it is a place of God, it is an evocation of the vision of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Incarnate Word, it is a beginning, creating a thread running through the region.
The board of Headwaters at Incarnate Word has been given a sacred trust – to preserve and protect the Sanctuary in perpetuity, to open the awareness of the community and its children to nature, to share the knowledge of a few to all who will come, in a loving, respectful way.
Ryland Howard
Board Member
Photo above: at Anson Springs, fondly referred to as Billy's Bathtub, in honor of Ryland's grandfather
Photo to right: volunteering in the Headwaters Sanctuary
When I walk through the Headwaters Sanctuary, it is a journey through time as well as space. I follow the steps of people who beginning 12,000 years ago lived in balance with the environment as hunter-gatherers. I see how in the last few hundred years human activity in the region has impacted the land and especially the water, leaving the Sanctuary a unique outpost of relatively healthy urban forest. I understand our efforts to restore and preserve the ecosystem and to educate the community about the importance of our natural surroundings as essential to securing a future where the trees and grasslands, springs and river can again speak to those who walk here, to reestablish their connectivity with the natural world.
Sally Said
Board Secretary
Photo: at Enchanted Rock State Park
The San Antonio area was originally inhabited by Native Americans a few thousand years ago, due in large part to its abundant natural resources, prominently including the pure and bountiful waters issuing forth from artesian springs at the headwaters of the San Antonio River near Incarnate Word. The waters supported lush vegetation and plentiful wildlife and this area, just north of downtown, was essentially the beating heart of what would eventually become San Antonio.
A preserve recently established on this Sacred Ground, the Headwaters Sanctuary, helps us to honor and appreciate our collective Deep Roots to the area . . . and to better appreciate our connection to the natural world, a first step in helping us better take care of it.
It’s a privilege to be involved with the dedicated and Mission-oriented Headwaters group, including the Sisters of the Incarnate Word who have stewarded the Headwaters area for many years . . . and to help ensure that future generations will be able to experience a part of what makes San Antonio such a Unique and a Special Place.
Robert Boerner
Board Member
Photo: at "Ojo” (Spring) up in the mountains above the village of Quiechapa in southern Oaxaca, Mexico
The Headwaters at Incarnate Word is a special place--at the heart of our fair city, both historically and spiritually. It is wonderful that the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word in 2008 deeded almost 53 acres, including the Blue Hole, to become an "earth ministry" and emphasizes the fact that the preservation of our water and land is a critical factor in our future sustainability.
I am very pleased and proud to be a part of this amazing gift to the City of San Antonio.
T. Weir Labatt, III
Board Chairperson
Photo: volunteering in the Headwaters Sanctuary
Dappled shimmering tourmaline aqua gray blueness captured in a stone and cent surround. Heart pumping life water out the sluice into arteries of limestone and dry earth. Life water nourishing the spirit circling at the sacred spring’s center. Peering down, my shadow floats on translucence, darting minnows and spring effervescence rippling through shifting eternity.
Bridget McDermott Flood
Board Member
Photo above: the Blue Hole
Photo to right: at the Blue Hole
