Pilgrimage and Prayer

This past summer was wonderful. God has continued to bless me in my life. I have been encouraged too as the Year for Priests concluded last month. What a great year during which we could pray for all of our priests and pray that more would respond to this wonderful vocation. Many wonder if Pope Benedict XVI will dedicate this coming year to focus on something else. Two years ago, the focus was on Saint Paul. Time will tell.

Icon of Christ the Great High Priest
by Marek Czarnecki of Seraphic Restorations

In June, I was blessed to help lead a pilgrimage to Italy from June 14-24. Helping 17 people on pilgrimage to grow in their faith was a humbling experience. Some of the highlights from our spiritual journey included attending a Papal Audience with Pope Benedict XVI on June 16th.

As well, we had a chance to say Mass underneath Saint Peter’s Basilica near the very bones of our first Pope. We also went on the Scavi Tour where we got an amazing explanation about the excavations that have gone on underneath Saint Peter’s Basilica over the years. Eventually, the results of this led to discovering the very place where Saint Peter was buried. We actually looked upon the bones of the fisherman from Bethsaida who Jesus called to be a “Fisher of men” and “The Rock” in which He would build His Church (Matthew 16:18). Another highlight was celebrating a Mass in the Catacombs of Callistus. The catacombs in Rome and surrounding cities were where the early Christians sought refuge in times of persecution. We were very fortunate to run into another priest there from the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana - Father Paul Cochran who serves in Alexandria and Elwood. Speaking of a small world, we also ran into Father Kevin Haines and his pilgrimage group from Saint Maria Goretti in Westfield, IN. They were staying in the same hotel as my group in Rome at the Hotel Alimandi near the Vatican Museum. The five days spent in Rome were enjoyable and I grew in appreciation of the vocation God has called me to as a priest. It was the first time I had travelled to Rome as a priest. Wow!

We also journeyed by bus to the medieval town of Assisi in Italy. The spirituality of Saint Francis and Saint Clare was alive and well. The peace we found there was amazing. 

Needless to say, we were all very blessed. We celebrated Mass twice in the Basilica of Saint Francis, where he is buried. There we bumped into three more priests for our diocese - Fathers Andrew, Ted and Brian Dudzinski. Talk about a small world. Another Mass was celebrated at Saint Damiano where Saint Clare of Assisi spent many of her days. Needless to say, our pilgrimage was life giving and a huge blessing for us all. If you would like to look at more picture from the pilgrimage, please check out the photo album I put together. Click here and enjoy!

On another note, this weekend in the 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time, we heard from the Gospel of Saint Luke some wonderful words from Jesus, especially: “And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Luke 11: 9-10).

I shared in my homily this weekend about the fact that sometimes we will pray and pray and pray for something, but our prayer does not seem to get answered. Well, like a good parent, God knows what is best for His Children. Sometimes, it might be the case that we are not praying for what is truly in His plan for us. As well, there are some prayers that we need to play a more active part in getting answered. What do I mean? Well, I explained in the homily that some of our prayers are linked to concrete charitable actions within our community. According to Father Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, O.P., a scripture scholar, “Hence to pray truly for someone involves also reaching out concretely to help that person. To pray truly for justice and peace involves working actively for justice and peace. When we pray “through Christ” we pray not just through the resurrected Christ in heaven but also through the “body of Christ” on earth, ourselves. We need to be involved in helping answer our own prayers. Thus when our prayer doesn’t seem to be answered it might mean that we, Christ’s body on earth, have not been enough involved in trying to answer our own prayer, that we haven’t in fact prayed “through Christ”. The point really is that we need to be part of the prayers that we offer to Almighty God.

That is all for this blog entry. It was longer than normal because I have not blogged for awhile. I will try to blog more frequently so the individual entries won’t be so long. Anyway, may you have a wonderful summer and enjoy the blessings God extends to you and to those you love. And don’t forget the wonderful words from Jesus: ““And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Luke 11: 9-10).

In His Priesthood,

Father Joshua