The Brothers love to make pilgrimages. We have been to Marian shrines and Josephite shrines, places as far as the Holy Land and as close as a special church or friendly religious house in our state or diocese.
We are a pilgrim people. The image of "journey" is imprinted in our being, for we have been made for heaven. The reality of our chronological existence on this earth corresponds to the patient generosity of God for our conversion. But conversion is not one and done, but ongoing. Constant conversion is deeply Catholic, and deeply Franciscan. As Saint Francis was dying, he had personally drawn hundreds of men to the religious life, yet he said: "Let us begin again, for until now we have hardly done anything!"
Pilgrimages offer an opportunity for deeper conversion to God through a whole-person experience: body - mind - soul - strength. It requires physical effort and a sacrifice of time to travel some distance. It is a mental retreat from the busy world into a quiet holy place, set apart for listening to God's voice.
As important as listening is, it is often on that pilgrimage that one finds the space to be free to be raw with God. It is a time to be vulnerable and naked of soul before Him, communicating the deepest concerns of the heart and tapping into the deepest desires of the heart.
To receive the deepest graces of a pilgrimage, a key is to prepare the soul by making a good Confession. This can be done before or during the pilgrimage itself. When the soul is right with God, when one is grafted onto the Vine of Jesus' living Sacraments, the Sap of His Grace can truly flow.
