The Pilgrimage of Hope: Honoring Our Local Saints
Our recent pilgrimage was an experience of surprisingly great consolation for me. There were things involved that one would naturally expect to be refreshing: the monks who went got to sleep in, we got to spend time in fraternity together, we got to host and accompany some of our friends as guests on the trip. In addition to that, all of us, monks and guests, got to see some new places, meet some new people, and hear some interesting stories. However, the trip wasn’t just some big group tour; it was a pilgrimage.
Among the conferences given by my confreres and me on the first day of the pilgrimage, it was Br. Jean-Marie’s that helped me get my bearings as we began because he referenced the Catechism on the meaning of pilgrimages. It reads: “[They] evoke our earthly journey toward heaven and are traditionally very special occasions for renewal in prayer. For pilgrims seeking living water, shrines are special places for living the forms of Christian prayer ‘in Church.’” (CCC 2691)
I was unsure of what to expect or hope for leading up to the pilgrimage; I knew that I was correct to say, “I’m looking forward to this,” but I didn’t really know why until I heard that quote. What I was hoping for and looking forward to was an experience of being renewed in prayer. So, what happened as the journey unfolded?
Later the same day, we made it to our destination hotel for that night in Oklahoma City. We had just finished our longest leg of bus-riding, and I was grateful to have arrived. Apart from supper and bedtime, I wasn’t expecting much that afternoon and evening because I knew we wouldn’t be visiting Bl. Stanley Rother’s shrine until the following day. I was pleasantly surprised when we were greeted with a reception at our hotel by some friends, the Bonds. I knew that Sue Rother Bond had been in Atchison last year with her husband, Dr. Jim, to do their puppet show based on her children’s book about Bl. Stanley Rother, but I had been unable to attend the show.
While they didn’t roll out the whole experience for us in the hotel lobby, Dr. Jim did sing a song or two for us from the show. He also explained how he and Sue go about impressing upon the kids they teach why paying attention to Bl. Stanley’s life is so important. He began by acknowledging that lots of famous people are heroes for us and models of greatness, dedication, and excellence, especially in sports. He then repeated to us, “Not everyone has a 38-inch vertical—basketball’s big here because the OKC Thunder won the championship—but everyone can do what Bl. Stanley did.”
That struck me to the core and stayed with me throughout the pilgrimage. The renewal that I was hoping for was given to me through coming into contact with the histories of Bl. Stanley Rother, Ven. Emil Kapaun, and St. Rose Philippine Duchesne. Each of them in their own way showed us pilgrims the consequences of a life lived totally for God. Hearing of the deep pastoral love of Bl. Stanley Rother’s heart, the generous spirit that animated the long-suffering sacrifice of Fr. Emil Kapaun, and the silent and prayerful missionary zeal of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne was deeply inspiring for me. As we prayed at each of the places, asking for the intercession of these holy people, I was moved by a desire to allow God to make something that beautiful out of my life too.
It's a joyful, glorious thing to experience the awakening of the deepest desires of the heart. It is somewhat odd, though, because while it never ceases to surprise like something new it also never fails to sound like a reminder. The renewal I was hoping for in prayer came in the form of my three new friends reminding me by their witness. What I saw time and again at each of our stops was the heartening fact that I was made for a different kind of greatness: greatness of heart and soul, dedication to conversion to Christ, and excellence in loving both God and neighbor. I don’t know the exact height of my vertical jump, but I know it’s high enough for that.