Episode 25

May 16, 2025

00:35:00

Pilgrimage Experiences

Pilgrimage Experiences
Faith Break: Finding God Moments In Your Every Day
Pilgrimage Experiences

May 16 2025 | 00:35:00

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Show Notes

Our favorite Church nerd Don Smith is back to talk with Karen and Anne about the spiritual significance of pilgrimages within our life-long journeys of faith. God does great things when we move out of our comfort zones and trust Him to guide our steps along
the road.

Scripture References:
Psalms 120-134
Genesis 12:1
Exodus 13:21
Luke 2:41-52

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Episode Transcript

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to Faith Break. Finding God moments in your everyday. Each week on Faith Break, hosts Karen Luke and Ann Gallagher bring spiritual refreshment to your Daily Life. It's May 18th today. Colleague and friend Don Smith is back to explore the spiritual significance of pilgrimages within our lifelong journeys of faith. God does great things when we move out of our comfort zones and trust him to guide our steps along the road. [00:00:47] Speaker B: Hi, everybody. Welcome to Faith Break. We are back. I am Ann Gallagher. [00:00:51] Speaker C: And I'm Karen Luke. And we have our special friend. [00:00:55] Speaker B: Don Smith is joining us again today. [00:00:58] Speaker D: The notes say favorite church nerd. [00:01:00] Speaker B: You are our favorite church nerd. You're pretty much our only church nerd, too. [00:01:04] Speaker C: But will you have any question? And it's like, doot, doot, Don. [00:01:09] Speaker B: So Don works at our diocesan office, but he used to work in parishes with each of us at different times. And so we're happy to have you back. [00:01:17] Speaker D: Thanks. Glad to be here. [00:01:19] Speaker B: Today we are going to be talking about pilgrimage, which is one of the themes or aspects of the jubilee year, which we are still in the middle of. So. And Don, you have led pilgrimages before. You've done some writing on pilgrimages to prep our diocesan teens for ncyc. So that's why we invited you on again. [00:01:45] Speaker D: Nice. Glad to be here. [00:01:47] Speaker C: Is a pilgrim member. [00:01:49] Speaker B: Wait a minute. Oh, we didn't do our God moments. [00:01:51] Speaker C: Oh, sure. [00:01:51] Speaker B: Do you want to start with our God moments? [00:01:52] Speaker C: Sure. [00:01:53] Speaker B: Do you want to start with your God moments? [00:01:56] Speaker C: Let's do God moments. Okay. Okay. My God moment for this week is definitely the celebration of our first communions. Kiddos, I have had the amazing blessing of preparing them, and they all were perfect in their execution of receiving first Holy Communion. I mean, the whole attentiveness of the bow and making sure that they made the sign of the cross, and they were just so adorable. So that was definitely my God moment. And actually, to add onto that God moment, one of our kiddos was also at our confirmation because his sister was being confirmed. So I got to see his second communion. [00:02:45] Speaker B: Yes, I noticed that. [00:02:46] Speaker C: And he was very excited as well. So it was a great. It's been a great week. [00:02:53] Speaker B: Yeah, it has. [00:02:54] Speaker C: Who wants to. [00:02:55] Speaker B: I'll go because mine's gonna dovetail off of yours. Mine was our confirmation celebration on Monday night, which dawn was at, too. Cause that's part of your job is to run confirmation. It is what you do. I don't know. How many times do you. [00:03:09] Speaker D: This year I think there's 12, 13. [00:03:11] Speaker B: Oh, my goodness. All right. Well, we only have to go once, so that's good. But I just. [00:03:16] Speaker D: You're welcome back anytime. [00:03:17] Speaker B: No, that's okay. [00:03:18] Speaker C: And we want to go. [00:03:21] Speaker B: Once is good. Once is good. But it was just so fun to see our young people get confirmed. And I got to be right up close and, like, you know, kind of pushing them towards the bishop when it was their turn. And it was just adorable to see their smiles and the grace. And we had a couple teens who stepped up to be readers or greeters and just had a. Did a great job with those. Those roles. So, yeah, just to be. [00:03:54] Speaker C: Seen. [00:03:54] Speaker B: I don't want to say through with another group, but it's always this time of year. I've just. I'm grateful for the chance to have known them for the two years of their prep and to continue to invite them to participate in our church. And confirmation is just always a big highlight of the year. Yeah, maybe less so when you do it 12 times a year, but it can be. [00:04:14] Speaker D: But at the same time, your confirmation was probably my God moment for the last week, too, for two reasons. [00:04:21] Speaker B: One, it's your birthday. [00:04:23] Speaker D: It was my birthday. And so there is something. We joke a lot about having to work on our birthdays, but being able to celebrate milestones like that, knowing that I'm experiencing my own milestone, was really special. But I also had the opportunity to comment to Margie that yours was the first confirmation of the year, where 15 minutes before confirmation, everybody was in their seat. The aisles were clear, stress was down. [00:04:59] Speaker B: You're welcome. [00:05:01] Speaker C: We prepped them. And I just want to say their I dos at the renewal of their baptism vows was loud and proud. And from where I was sitting, I could even hear some of the kids and their conversations with Bishop Matano during the celebration. So I was like, yeah, we got it. And we had the most choir people show up. So thank you to our choir people. [00:05:26] Speaker B: Yes, thank you to our choir. [00:05:27] Speaker D: Sounded beautiful. [00:05:29] Speaker C: So, so good. [00:05:31] Speaker B: Okay, so I guess now we can go back to talking about pilgrimage. So, Don, tell us what a pilgrimage is. [00:05:37] Speaker D: The pilgrimage is any journey where the outside mirrors the inside. So it's not about where you go. It's not about. It's about why you journey. So you can take a pilgrimage to Walmart if you want to, but it has to be intentional. [00:05:55] Speaker B: Do you want to, though? [00:05:58] Speaker D: I tried to go for the most extreme I could. [00:06:00] Speaker C: And not intentional because you need grass groceries. Yeah, okay. [00:06:03] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:06:03] Speaker D: But to reflect our inner journey to and with God. And so that's why holy places tend to be your. Your pilgrimage. Sites. [00:06:14] Speaker B: Yep. [00:06:15] Speaker D: But it's not about being at Lourdes or being at St Peter's it's about going to and then returning from. [00:06:27] Speaker C: I like that because a lot of times when we're planning for I'm going to a vacation, we're more worried about getting to the vacation, and we don't really plan the other stuff. And then when we get back, it's like, you need a vacation from the vacation, but with the pilgrimage, it's that continual journey. [00:06:48] Speaker D: Well, we talk to kids a lot about when they have to do a retreat for confirmation or for whatever reason. We talk to them about how a retreat is an opportunity to get away from the norm so that we're refreshed to go back. And a pilgrimage is just a bigger experience of that. [00:07:07] Speaker B: Yeah. So one of the images of the church that I actually really like is the idea that the church itself is a pilgrim people. Right. So, like, we. You know, obviously the church is not the buildings, it's the people, but it's also we're people on a journey. Right. So there are holy places we can go to, but really all of our life is a holy place. Right. We're always on holy ground. So I love the idea that together as church, we are pilgrims on a journey, and we're always traveling and always moving where the. Where the Lord sends us, you know? So have you guys done some pilgrimages in your life? Like, where would you say? Or what are some experiences of pilgrimage, I guess, that you have had over the years? [00:07:52] Speaker D: Me first. [00:07:53] Speaker C: Yeah, first I'm looking at you. [00:07:55] Speaker D: Well, formally, I've done pilgrimage to Assisi, Italy, twice, to walk where St. Francis walked and to learn about who Francis was and what that means to my life. Interestingly enough, I did the first one as a college student. And it was after that that I realized that I was being called into ministry. And then I did another. I did it again shortly after my mother passed, and I felt like my life was just falling apart. And it was through that pilgrimage that the pieces started to come back together. And I realized that my life is meant to be pilgrimage, and that, yeah, there's bad things that happen, but you keep pilgrim. You keep going. [00:08:46] Speaker B: Keep pilgriming. We should make it a verb. [00:08:48] Speaker C: It's a verb. Yeah. I'm gonna have a. [00:08:49] Speaker B: We make a lot of things, verbs, pilgriming. [00:08:53] Speaker C: Well, mine, I did go on a pilgrimage, but it wouldn't be like your typical pilgrimage. I had the opportunity to go to Poland and study the Holocaust for nine days, and we went to some of the concentration camps and got to meet survivors. But again, like you were saying, the process up to that, our group, we were together for months before preparing for what we were going to do. And then when we got back, we had a couple times we were all together to kind of decompress from it. And then a couple of us actually went and got tattoos together in memory of. Of that experience. [00:09:47] Speaker D: That's an important part of pilgrimage. I'm reaching into my pocket because you're gonna. [00:09:53] Speaker C: You have a tattoo in there? [00:09:54] Speaker D: No, but when you. When we went to Assisi, we were given a towel cross, and if I'm not in a tie, I still wear it regularly. But it's. It's that momento to remind you that the journey might be done, but your inner journey is not. [00:10:13] Speaker C: Yeah, for sure. And it did open my eyes to a lot of injustice that's still happening and motivates me to be more vocal about things than I have been before. So not your typical Holy Land place. [00:10:30] Speaker B: But it was holy to you. [00:10:32] Speaker C: Holy to me. [00:10:33] Speaker B: Yeah. So I think in my life. Well, I'm going to talk about the National Youth Conference later, because that's pilgrimages I've led with young people. But in terms of pilgrimages for myself, I think the two big ones are I went to World Youth Day twice. Once was when I was 16, and it was in Denver, and Pope John Paul II came. And that was like you were saying, it was something we prepared for for many months, that our diocese took I don't know how many people, but we had, I mean, lots of meetings in small groups and in the diocesan group to get us ready for this big experience. And it changed everything for me. It was a real conversion experience, and not just the travel of going and the experience of being part of a larger church. And, like, just realizing, you know, the church is not just my parish or even my diocese, but we're a global family. And so it just. And, like, I don't know, I can't get into all of it, but there were moments of prayer in the course of that journey that just. They changed the way I thought about everything in my whole life. And a big part of it was the witness of our bishop of Bishop Clark, and just how present he was with our young people, all of us young people. I mean, the highlight of the trip was it was this huge camp out in Cherry Creek State park, which there were a million people in this park, like, sleeping on the ground, waiting for the Pope to come. And there were a lot of bishops there, but they all left to go back to the hotel. And our bishop was there. He was wearing a tie dye T shirt, I remember. And he stayed with us out in the field all night. And it was just such a. Like, I don't know, it was amazing because it showed me that church wasn't what I thought it was and that it was. Yeah, just a place where I was called to be and to be a part of something that was much larger than myself. And then I went back again. When I was a youth minister, we had one in Toronto, and I went as an adult, and it was like I understood all of the things the youth ministers had said were so hard about the one when I was a teenager, but I had. I was completely oblivious to it. Right. [00:12:58] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:12:59] Speaker B: Yeah. So that was another pilgrimage experience, but a different, different one. So, yeah. I don't know. [00:13:06] Speaker C: I mean, going back to ncyc. Cause that's when I feel like I went as a youth, but I've also gone as a chaperone, as a youth minister. I've also gone as a diocesan level. But one of the things that always gets me is, you know, we were talking about the larger church, and when you come together and you're like, oh, they know the same prayers I do at the same time. And just the idea, like, you can be in Italy or France or wherever, and you go to a Mass, and even it might not even be in that language, you know, what's happening, but the cadence matches. Yes. And that's what, like, that's what draws me. That's what keeps drawing me back to, like, when people are like, oh, with everything going on, it's like there's just something about the ritual and the fact that it's the same everywhere, that shared experience. [00:14:07] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, Don. I know that one of the things that we say kind of on repeat when we're prepping kids for the National Youth Conference is that it's a pilgrimage. And that pilgrimage is messy. And that part of the pilgrim experience is to be outside your comfort zone, to understand that things are going to go wrong and to kind of roll with it. So I wonder if you can talk or any of us can talk about some pilgrimage experiences that maybe, you know, in spite of all the high points that we're experiencing, well, you know, that other side that kind of. [00:14:44] Speaker D: You do your best to prepare for anything, and then something comes up that. How does. There's no way you could have seen that coming. The last ncyc, the. We got to the hotel and they hadn't received the last Check to pay for the hotel rooms. So we had literally nowhere for anyone to sleep. And. [00:15:12] Speaker B: And we're already on a bus at that point, heading towards almost. [00:15:14] Speaker D: Not quite. [00:15:16] Speaker C: I was gonna say, you guys were. [00:15:17] Speaker D: Leaving in, like, hours. [00:15:18] Speaker C: Oh, God made it look pretty seamless when we got there, but we had. [00:15:21] Speaker B: We had three in the morning. [00:15:22] Speaker D: We had to call Rochester back to Rochester, get another check drafted for that amount that could come onto one of the buses. [00:15:32] Speaker B: Oh, goodness. [00:15:33] Speaker D: So that we could pay to. [00:15:36] Speaker C: Oh, my gosh. [00:15:37] Speaker D: And, you know, it was chaos. [00:15:39] Speaker B: Oh, gosh. [00:15:40] Speaker D: And then, of course, as we're sitting there getting everything ready, they come out and they go, oh, we found it was on so and so's desk, but he's on vacation. So we laugh about it now, but it was not a laughing experience then, but it was a pilgrim experience. And that night, because I think that a good pilgrimage includes reflection as you go. And we, as a team, were praying that night, and one of our teams said, you know, my stress level felt so high, and yet, because we've been doing this in prayer, it didn't feel high at all. Like, she looked at her iPhone and it showed blood pressure was elevated and all those things. But she felt at peace because we were doing everything in prayer. And what can you do? You scan a roll with it. [00:16:38] Speaker C: Right. [00:16:40] Speaker D: But that messiness is part of what makes pilgrimage more than just travel. If you were traveling to Disney World, you'd go, well, looks like we're not going to Epcot today. And you might be mad, but you wouldn't. It wouldn't shift a lot where in Pilgrimage, it just gets incorporated in and is part of the journey. [00:17:00] Speaker B: Yeah, you're right. No matter how much we prepare our teens for that, it's like, you know, there's going to be complaining in the minute. So, I mean, one of the things I say over and over again for the young people we're bringing up, like, you can't complain at ncyc. Right. This is all part of the thing. We had one. Don, do you remember when we all went to Houston? Oh, it was. [00:17:21] Speaker D: I try not to. [00:17:22] Speaker B: You missed out. [00:17:23] Speaker C: I wasn't there. [00:17:25] Speaker D: That was my first experience. [00:17:26] Speaker B: You were leading a. I was leading. [00:17:28] Speaker D: A group, but it was my first time ever going to ncyc, so I. I figured that's just the way it was. I didn't realize things were bad. [00:17:35] Speaker B: It was. Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. Like, the hotel was overbooked, so my group ended up getting booted to, like, a hotel that was 20 or 30 minutes away. The buses didn't run on time, which was a problem for us because we were not at the hotel with everybody else. So we, we didn't get to go to the last. The closing mass because. [00:17:59] Speaker D: Because you were on the chartered flight. [00:18:00] Speaker B: The flight Bishop Clark was doing, saying the mass. And we missed it because we had to. They made us go to the airport because they were afraid we're gonna miss. [00:18:07] Speaker D: Our flight, afraid the flight would have to leave before. [00:18:11] Speaker B: And in the hotel where we were at, the fire alarm got pulled and we all had to evacuate. And one kid came down. I kid you not, in wrapped in a towel. Now I'm like, you still had time for pants. I think this kid, I mean, everything went wrong. [00:18:30] Speaker D: At least your hotel got evacuated one ncyc recently, only two, three floors got evacuated. The floor that it happened and then the floor above and below. But we didn't have anybody on a diocesan team on any of those three. [00:18:44] Speaker B: Floors because I slept through. [00:18:45] Speaker D: So we didn't know that anything happened. [00:18:47] Speaker B: I slept through it too, but some of my kids got evacuated. I forgot about that. Oh, there's been a lot of stories. [00:18:56] Speaker D: But they all roll into that pilgrim pilgrimage experience. And it just is what it is. And. [00:19:06] Speaker C: When I was, it was at the end of coming back from Poland and I am not a good flyer, so I took some Dramamine. And then when we got to the airport, we realized they told us that our flight from New York had been delayed, so we weren't going to be able to fly right direct. We had to fly to Germany on one of those like four seater planes. [00:19:30] Speaker B: Oh, boy. [00:19:30] Speaker C: Then go from Germany to New York. Well, my Dramamine had already kicked in. So when we got. And we had a layover in Germany, I was adamant about wanting my passport stamped. So I kept trying to like leave customs to come back. And they're like, don't leave. You won't get back in. You won't get back in. So finally I didn't. But I was so drugged up on Dramamine because I didn't realize that. That the flight from Poland to Germany was like 45 minutes. Yeah, it was like 45 minutes. So I was like, oh, I'll just take two. So that would be my like, bad pilgrimage. [00:20:06] Speaker B: Yeah. And I mean, these are about pilgrim pilgrimages where like we took planes and buses. And it was for a couple of days, but sometimes, you know, we've talked to people who've done like the Camino. [00:20:15] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:20:15] Speaker B: And spent like weeks, weeks and weeks walking. [00:20:18] Speaker D: Just walking. [00:20:18] Speaker B: Right. I mean, Think about all of the daily inconveniences that you're, like, you know, offering up and stuff when you do a more extended intentional. [00:20:29] Speaker C: And we're talking about, like, the bad things that happened. Do you remember? I think it was Ohio NCYC in Ohio. The bishop who was going to say the closing mass got sick. [00:20:43] Speaker D: He had emergency surgery. [00:20:44] Speaker B: Yeah. Really? [00:20:45] Speaker C: And they asked Bishop Clark to say. [00:20:46] Speaker D: It when he got to the city, not beforehand. [00:20:50] Speaker B: Yeah, I do remember hearing about it. [00:20:51] Speaker C: So, like, our whole diocese got to be up front, and it was just. And when he processed in, we're all chanting like, you know, Bishop Clark, he was just like. [00:21:03] Speaker D: I remember him saying, there's my people. [00:21:05] Speaker C: Yes. [00:21:05] Speaker B: And it was just like, yes. [00:21:07] Speaker C: And you're just like. Your heart just went, like, so excited. [00:21:11] Speaker B: So the Mass we missed in Houston, he was presiding at that one. And that's why. One of the reasons it was so hard to miss that. But no, I missed the one in Ohio because Liam was born that week. [00:21:21] Speaker C: So you missed both Bishop Clark's Masses. [00:21:25] Speaker B: I definitely have been at other NCYC's where he did. I don't know how many years he did that for. [00:21:30] Speaker C: It was like, the closing celebration with, like, the thousands of people. And it was super good memories, but it was good highlights, too. [00:21:37] Speaker D: I happened because I was on a. I had a parish group that year, and I happened to be nearby when they came and asked him. And his immediate answer was, no, I'm not prepared. I'm not gonna do a Mass with 20,000 people with two days notice. And they were like, but Bishop so and so specifically asked for you. And it's his diocese. He gets to pick. And I remember Bishop Clark going, well, how do you tell a guy that just had surgery? No. [00:22:12] Speaker B: Even he had his comfort zone stretched. [00:22:15] Speaker C: I love it. [00:22:18] Speaker B: What do you think, guys? Are there any other, like, dream pilgrimages you would love to go on one day, but haven't had a chance to yet? [00:22:25] Speaker D: I have one. I'd love to lead. Yeah, I would love to lead a pilgrimage through the English saints. [00:22:31] Speaker B: Oh, okay. [00:22:32] Speaker D: For. With John Fisher and Thomas More and Henry Newman and up into the Irish saints. And I think that would just be a new. [00:22:41] Speaker C: If you plan that, sign me up. [00:22:45] Speaker D: Yeah, I think that would just be a really neat experience to. Because culturally, it's similar enough, but it would be. And it would be easy enough to lead because you don't have the language barrier. [00:22:57] Speaker B: That's true. [00:22:59] Speaker C: I would just like to make it to the Holy Land, I think. [00:23:02] Speaker B: Oh, one day. Wouldn't that be great. [00:23:04] Speaker C: You know, just to kind of. When you hear the scriptures and you look at a map, it's one thing, but like, to be present in that spot, that would definitely be. [00:23:17] Speaker B: Yeah, my. Yeah. I would love to do like, similar to how you did the Franciscan sites. To do the Ignatian sites would be a good one. I would love to do that one day. And I would love to do part of the Camino, but I do not think I would ever be able to convince Brian to do it. Because the bedbug stories, remember we went to that workshop. [00:23:45] Speaker C: Yes. [00:23:45] Speaker B: And we have a colleague who just went to the Camino and she said that was one of the things she looked. That was a great. That was a great day. But I was like, oh, I'm never gonna get Brian there. He would be totally squeamish. [00:23:59] Speaker C: But one of. Yeah, I'm sorry. Another highlight pilgrimage. And it's something right here in our diocese, Holy Thursday Adoration. I know that our. The youth minister before me, Leslie Barkin, she would always take a group of teens around to the different churches in our diocese for adoration for 15, 20 minutes, and then they'd go move to the next church. [00:24:25] Speaker B: Hopping on Holy Thursday is a great tradition. Yeah. So we didn't do that this year, but some years we've done that. [00:24:30] Speaker D: It's getting harder and harder to do because churches aren't opening at midnight. [00:24:36] Speaker B: Right. I mean, when I was back at my first parish, that church would stay open all night long. [00:24:44] Speaker C: Did you have signups? We had sign ups, yeah. [00:24:47] Speaker B: And I used to go. I would sign all of the college students up. All the alumni would do like the 2am shift or something. And so I would show up in the middle of the night to the church and see all of the college students who were home. That was really cool. [00:25:01] Speaker A: Cool. [00:25:02] Speaker B: But, yeah, you're right. I think most places are, oh, we're closing. 10 minutes. 10. Oh, man. You know what other place I would love to go back to is Notre Dame. Notre Dame in Paris, which was a place I got to visit when I was in college because I spent a year. I spent a year living in Belgium and we went there several times. But since they had the fire and everything has been rebuilt, I would love to go back and to see that space because I remember just that space just kind of, kind of vibrating with holiness for me. Like. And I just. How. And when I heard of the fire, it was very emotional for me when that happened because it was just like such a. I mean, when you think about Cathedrals, this is getting off topic a little bit. But, like, they take forever to build. Right. Generations to build. And so I was, you know, to think about all the holy people who have spent time to build it and have prayed in it over the centuries. And, like, just the image of it burning. And I was like, in the church, you know, like, the church is burning in so many ways, too. You know, like we are talking about. So to see how people came together to rebuild it. [00:26:19] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:26:20] Speaker B: I mean, that. That is such a sign of hope for the future for me. I would love to see that. So maybe one day. Yeah. [00:26:29] Speaker D: Well. And locally, talking about cathedrals, one of the things that Pope Francis did when he instituted the Jubilee this year was recognize that the vast majority of Catholics are not going to be able to go to Rome. And so he asked every diocese to designate a pilgrimage site so that everyone can participate in a jubilee pilgrimage. And every cathedral in the world has been designated a pilgrimage site. And then if there's a shrine or something of significance in your diocese, Rochester doesn't have any, but, like, the Shrine of the North American Martyrs out in Ariesville towards Albany. That would be a site that you could take pilgrimage to in. In solidarity with those who are on pilgrimage throughout the world for the Jubilee. [00:27:24] Speaker B: That's so cool. Any other pilgrimage news happening around us in relation to the Jubilee? Not to put you on the spot. [00:27:34] Speaker D: Or anything, but I know a few parishes have talked about doing, like, Ariesville. [00:27:39] Speaker B: Or. [00:27:41] Speaker D: There'S a few minor basilicas, like, out in Buffalo area. Like, doing small pilgrimage or parish groups for that. [00:27:49] Speaker B: Sure. [00:27:50] Speaker D: But I haven't heard anything on large scale, really. [00:27:56] Speaker B: Any other thoughts about pilgrimage in general or just the idea of, you know, our faith as a journey, our lives as a. Yeah. Our lives as a pilgrimage or thing. [00:28:11] Speaker D: I think one of my favorite parts of pilgrimage is the intentionality of it that you. You think about it before, you experience while you do, and you reflect on it after. But then to think of that in terms of just what we do in life, right? And our life really can be like. He keeps saying, we are a pilgrim church and. But then that means that we have to be intentional. You don't get to be a pilgrim church and just float down the river. You have to inflate your tube, experience it, and then deflate the tube when you're done so that you're ready to do it again. [00:28:55] Speaker C: It just got me thinking of camping. [00:28:59] Speaker B: We knew it was gonna come up. [00:29:00] Speaker C: It actually wasn't. You know, like, when we talk about, do Everything. Everything that you do, even the mundane, if you do it with love and intentionality, how much different your attitude would be. And I always laugh. I'm like, yeah, I'll walk down with the laundry. Oh, thank you. I'm such gratitude that my family has so much laundry. But, like, if we're the intention, I like the idea of the intentionality of our everyday lives. And that's what, you know, like you said, we're on holy ground all the time, but we don't necessarily think of it because we don't intentionally think that making dinner for our family is feeding them and breaking bread and, you know, putting those symbolisms. Symbolism. Back onto things that we do. [00:29:48] Speaker D: But that's where I think that last part of pilgrimage, which we always skip. [00:29:53] Speaker B: Reflecting on it afterwards. [00:29:54] Speaker D: You've been on pilgrimage. You get home and you're like, okay, I'm home now. I gotta get the laundry done and I gotta do. But to actually look back on it and say, oh, yeah, that was awful in Houston, but we laughed during it. [00:30:11] Speaker B: We laughed afterward, but we got through. [00:30:14] Speaker D: It together, or we bonded over that. Those are the blessings that can come out of it, even though the mess is not a blessing as it's happening. [00:30:26] Speaker C: Right? [00:30:27] Speaker B: Yeah. And it's interesting because, yeah, pilgrimage is intentional, but at the same time, when you're on a pilgrimage, you're holding everything in open hands. Right. Like, you're not in control of everything. You're trusting and relying on God for everything. You know, we have these models in scripture of, you know, the Israelites in the desert from 40 years and God providing, you know, manna every day, but not for the whole trip. [00:30:51] Speaker D: And yet they complained. [00:30:52] Speaker B: They complained all the time. Right. [00:30:54] Speaker D: Because in the midst of it. [00:30:56] Speaker B: Yep. [00:30:56] Speaker D: You don't see it as a blessing. [00:30:58] Speaker B: Right, right. And even, like, the thinking of the life of Jesus, who, you know, I mean, pilgrimage was kind of woven into the Jewish way of life. Like, he and his family and his followers traveled to Jerusalem several times a year for the different festivities and stuff. We even have that story of when he was 12 years old getting lost there. That was a messy pilgrimage for Mary and Joseph. But his ministry, you know, he was pretty much without a real home base for, like, what, three years while he was ministering, just going from town to town along with his followers. I mean, talk about having a pilgrim lifestyle, right? Yes. [00:31:37] Speaker C: He tells them, don't bring anything. [00:31:38] Speaker B: Right. [00:31:39] Speaker C: So, you know, rely on God and those that will provide for you. [00:31:43] Speaker B: Right. [00:31:44] Speaker C: So can you imagine just not even packing a bag? I cannot I cannot fly into. [00:31:51] Speaker D: I thought it was bad enough when they told me you're going to be wearing the same shirt multiple times. And I'm like, but it's hot in Italy, right? [00:32:00] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. Yeah. So, yeah. So the idea of pilgrimage is, is woven into a lot of our identity as faithful people, I think. And yeah, we're always just going that one next step on the journey. Right. Sometimes we don't get the whole big picture. [00:32:18] Speaker C: Well, if there's any questions about where you can go for pilgrimages around here, the cathedral we have, you know, Buffalo has a lot of. [00:32:29] Speaker D: There's the USCCB website for the jubilee year, has all of the national sites, which obviously would include the New York ones. [00:32:39] Speaker B: Yeah. So as you're planning your summer vacations with your family, maybe think about adding a pilgrimage aspect to a day trip or a weekend trip or something. Be fun. Any last minute thoughts, you guys, before we. [00:32:55] Speaker C: No. [00:32:55] Speaker B: What's up, Don? I have a, like a little piece of pilgrim trivia that I found and I, when I was researching this, I was like, I have never heard of this before. And I'm going to quiz Don to see if he has heard of it before because I feel like I might be able to stump you. [00:33:10] Speaker D: Okay. [00:33:11] Speaker B: Have you heard of the pilgrim Psalms before? Do you know anything about this idea? [00:33:17] Speaker D: I've heard of them, but I don't. I've like heard of it in passing not to really know anything about it. [00:33:23] Speaker B: Okay. I know something church nerdy that Don doesn't tell everybody, but did you know that Psalms 120 to Psalms 134 are known as the pilgrim Psalms, and they are prayed in preparation for someone who is beginning a pilgrimage. And I guess if you pray along with them, it kind of takes you from the beginning through the journey and beyond. So for anybody who is planning a pilgrimage, I would recommend to you Psalms 120 through Psalms 134. [00:33:53] Speaker C: I like that. [00:33:53] Speaker B: There we go. [00:33:54] Speaker C: Learn something new every day. [00:33:55] Speaker B: Yep. [00:33:56] Speaker C: Love it. [00:33:57] Speaker B: All right, well, thanks for joining us, everybody and we will see you again next week. Thanks especially to Dawn. Thanks. Have a good week, everyone. [00:34:05] Speaker C: Bye. [00:34:07] Speaker A: Thanks for taking a faith break with us today. Karen Luke and Anne Gallagher are lay ministers with the parishes of St. Catherine of Siena in Menden, New York, and Church of the Transfiguration in Pittsford, New York. More about our parishes, including weekly live streamed Sunday Mass, can be [email protected] or transfigurationpittsford.org thank you to our special guest today, Don Smith, Engineering. Today is by Jeff Beckett. Join us for new episodes of Faith Break each week in Studio on YouTube or on your favorite audio podcast or music.

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