On this day in 1492, Christopher Columbus was at the edge of dispair. They had been sailing West for 32 days and seen nothing. With all three crews on the verge of mutiny, the other two ship captains had extracted a promise from him: that if they did not reach land in the next two days, they would turn back.
Yet Columbus was convinced that God had called them to this mission and that He was with them:
“I found our Lord well-disposed toward my heart’s desire, and He gave me the spirit of intelligence for the task…Who doubts that this illumination was from the Holy Spirit? He, with marvelous rays of light, consoled me through the holy and sacred Scriptures…encouraging me to proceed.”