Fr. Don’s Weekly Letter ~ 10 November 2024

Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,

Not even 12 hours back from pilgrimage last weekend, I celebrated Mass for the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts at a campground in Haymarket. I talked about this at the 11am Mass. During the Mass I had images in my mind of the many cathedrals and shrines where we had just celebrated Mass across France. I was struck by the different but consistent beauty of the place. The sun was just rising, and all the autumn leaves had the remarkable quality of warm tones of stained glass that just caught the light in the moment. The trees were columns like any architect could only dream of reproducing (with the possible exception of Antonio Gaudi and Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona). The leaves overhead joined and formed a ceiling vault that soared above us. I suddenly realized that the pilgrimage continues, not to be frustrated by an airline boarding pass and the distance of place. Time continues. I include a photo here of the stained glass leaves as we celebrated Mass in our own sacred space.

At our final Mass in Annecy, France at the Basilica of the Visitation where the tombs of Saints Francis de Sales and Jane Frances de Chantal are located, I challenged the pilgrims on the journey to consider that the pilgrimage continues, and that we should expect to be changed by it every day. It is good to be jolted by a total change of context and daily rhythm to help us be more attentive to whom and what surrounds us all the time, but the finer awareness of paying attention to details of daily life is the goal. The unexpected experience of beauty conditions us to find beauty everywhere. Likewise, the encounter with holy places tunes your consciousness to recognize holiness when you encounter it every day. But you don’t have to travel four thousand miles to learn this.

There is no trip that illustrates this idea more effectively than a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. We returned from our last pilgrimage to the Holy Land two weeks before the COVID lockdown in March of 2019. Up until then, I led a group there every other year. It wasn’t because I needed to revisit all those places (although I love doing it), but because I love to see the light go on in peoples’ heads when they realize that all that we have learned and heard and read in Scriptures -- ultimately, about Jesus -- has a real place where the saving Good News of salvation took place. This is where he was born. This is where he walked and performed miracles. This is the place where he died and rose again. Little by little you begin to see that Jesus is still doing all those things wherever you are... but the insight begins with the actual experience. Once known, it dwells in you. We discovered that France works just fine, too, as we spent our days in the company of their many saints.

The Church has a rich tradition of seeing herself as a people on pilgrimage, on the move through this life to the life of heaven. One of my favorite liturgical songs is “Servant Song,” which has these verses:

We are pilgrims on a journey, we are travellers on the road; we are here to help each other walk the mile and bear the load.

I will weep when you are weeping. When you laugh, I’ll laugh with you. I will share your joy and sorrow till we’ve seen this journey through.

When we sing to God in heaven, we shall find such harmony born of all we’ve known together of Christ’s love and agony.

The Lord be with you.