How to Turn a Vacation into a Pilgrimage

Posted on August 8, 2022 by Terry and John

Want to include Jesus in your vacation?

Lots of people enjoy vacations and may even include daily prayer during such refreshing times. Many experience glimpses of God’s love through visiting new places, relaxing, or enjoying family and friends. But how many of us have planned a combination vacation and pilgrimage? How many have chosen to add a holy place as a meaningful stop along the way? We have successfully done so many times. Our experiences have added a depth to family vacations. with just a few simple additions,  whole journeys have often become like retreat on the move.

We learned that all the parts of any trip –preparing, traveling, meals, the beauty of nature –can take on a sacred dimension. The first step in doing so involves a shift in our goals. We choose to move from gobbling up experiences to keeping an eye out for new spiritual insights, evangelizing moments and renewed faith. embracing a deeper awareness of life as a gift, instead of mere pleasure seeking. Our goal becomes embracing a deeper quality of life, something above mere pleasure seeking. Here are some suggestions for you and your traveling companions:

  1. Add a prayer of thanksgiving at the start of each day. Thank God for the places and people you will encounter. While traveling to a conference in Detroit, we added a stop at the Shrine of Blessed Solanus Casey. The cab driver asked us where we were headed. Then he shared that he had carried a Solanus prayer card in his wallet for years, but had lost it… When returning from the Shrine to our hotel, we asked for this same driver by name and gave him a new prayer card.
  2. Chose a holy place near your destination or along the route. We added a visit to St. Elizabeth Seton Shrine, when visiting Gettysburg, PA. To our surprise, John was healed of a serious throat infection as we prayed.
  3. Consider a family spiritual heritage stop. Include a visit and shared prayer at a church (call ahead) where family baptisms, Fist Communions, or marriages took place. Consider a visit to a cemetery where a loved one is buried. (Some burial records are available at www.findagrave.com)
  4. Recreate a moment in a Saint’s life near where she or he lived. For us, a vacation in upstate New York included time in the village where Saint Kateri Tekakwitha lived. At one point, Therese knelt down to scoop up cool water from the same spring where  Kateri drank more than three hundred years earlier. As family members used the water to bless each other, the sun shining through the leaves above us highlighted God’s presence with our family.

PS. After eight years and over 100 posts on this website, we will be taking an extended  vacation, with pilgrimage sites along the way. Then in Mid-November, we will make a new decision about any further posts and/or the publication of the most popular posts.

 

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The DANGEROUS! Final ‘Commandment’ of Jesus!

Posted on July 5, 2022 by Terry and John

The Old Testament offers us 10 Commandments that spell out crucial guidelines for embracing a covenant with God.  The Gospels focus on “The Great Commandment,” which spells out, or summarizes the importance of loving God, ourselves, and others. Then there are the “Beatitudes” describing the many blessings for those who imitate Jesus.

We can also count Matthew 28:18-20 as final ‘Commandment” of Jesus Christ, spoken just before he ascended into heaven. This important directive is also called the “Great Commission.’ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. But how do you and I “make disciples” or baptize, or teach? Isn’t this somebody else’s job? Yes and No!

Yes! All of the baptized are called to receive the life of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in deeper, ongoing and more personal ways throughout our whole lifetimes. This means seeking the presence, power, and joy of God-with-us in everyday life, by drawing upon the gift of new life given to us through Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist. But to fulfil this final commandment also means to support others in faith. “[Jesus] said, ‘You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’” (Acts 1:4-9) Here are three things that his commandment to ‘witness’ means:

1) The Spirit calls us and sends us to be witnesses (Greek: martyrs) for Jesus Christ through words and deeds. All we are, and all we have, are meant to be used to bring Jesus to others in our personal slice of the world: our homes, families, neighborhoods, churches, workplaces, and communities.

2) Embrace the “danger” and the risk of demonstrating and speaking about the often quiet, but also electric presence of Jesus. It means, gently, but confidently stepping out of our comfort zones, no matter the consequences or failures.

“At no point in the Gospel does Jesus tell us that following him… will be filled with success or that people will like us for it… The road of discipleship is filled with failure; if we demand that our lives be successful, we won’t make it very far.” (Fr. Casey Cole, OFM, “Let Go: Stumbling Blocks to Christian Discipleship,” p. 28)

3) Like Jesus, we are meant to grow in sensitivity to the many people around us who are experiencing spiritual malnutrition. Like Jesus, we are meant to welcome the alienated and the indifferent who have left parishes and faith communities. Indeed, we are called to let go of negative assumptions about the multitudes of Catholics who are dehydrated, as they sit around a single dripping, rusted pipe. We can sit with them and point out that all of us, active or inactive, possess an overflowing, baptismal source of water, that will never leave us thirsting.

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Obstacles to Reaching Out to Inactive Catholics

Posted on May 10, 2022 by Terry and John

The desire to share the presence of Jesus with friends, family, or those in need is a good thing. It is a gift from the same Holy Spirit who guided Jesus and the Saints to embrace a deeper compassion, especially for those with spiritual malnutrition. But too often, obstacles put a damper on this calling from God. When this happens, we can imitate the many Saints who embraced such roadblocks, as occasions to ask for more of the Holy Spirit’s wisdom, mercy, zeal and patience.

Here are some common obstacles to evangelizing. Consider watching this video as a step towards making progress in this area. Then ask, “Which one or two obstacles might I experience?

Fear of Failure and Rejection

  1. Failure—embarrassment, ignorance, previous mistakes
  2. Rejection—don’t want to be unpopular, insignificant, ridiculous

Stereotypes and Attitudes toward the Stranger

  1. Assuming he/she would not have anything in common with us
  2. Not interested in knowing strangers, different ethnic groups

Ambivalence

  1. Conflicting motives and beliefs about welcoming others
  2. Ministry groups centered only on mutual support

Relativism (Doctrinal Note on Some Aspects of Evangelization, sections 4, 5)

  1. Wondering if one religion is as “good” as another
  2. Lack of confidence in objective truth
  3. Spiritual isolation, lack of meaning, broken moral compass

Stuck in the Past

  1. We have always done it this way
  2. Lack of assessment about the good that is being done AND left undone

Lack of Support for Evangelizers

  1. Lack of ongoing support and feedback discourages efforts to reach out
  2. Need to recover from failures and rejoice about successes

Lack of personal growth through Prayer, Spiritual Study, Community, and a Sense of Mission

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