The Pilgrim's Journey

How to Make the Most of your First Day of Pilgrimage

Andrea JLast Updated: October 27th, 2023Featured Pilgrimages, Pilgrims' Stories, Spiritual Reflections

Upon arrival at your pilgrimage destination, many things happen all at once.  You are often immersed in a new language, in a strange airport, trying to stick with your group and/or meet your guide, and all this while typically not having your best night’s sleep.  So how do you make the most of this busy … Read More

Is Travel Insurance Worth It?

Andrea JLast Updated: July 14th, 2023Featured Pilgrimages, Pilgrims' Stories, Travel Alerts

It’s time for a pop quiz! Which of the following has NOT happened to a Tekton pilgrim in the past couple years? While vacationing in another country six weeks before his pilgrimage, John* fell and broke his hip. He was unable to depart on his pilgrimage. On the second day of his Holy Land pilgrimage, … Read More

Praying in the Garden with Jesus

Andrea JLast Updated: April 5th, 2023Featured Pilgrimages, Holy Land, Pilgrims' Stories, Spiritual Reflections

The Franciscan Crown Rosary

Andrea JLast Updated: September 1st, 2022Italy, Pilgrims' Stories, Spiritual Reflections

Twenty years ago this spring I traveled to Rome for Holy Week and Easter.  I was studying abroad that year and before I left I told all my friends at the Newman Center that I was going to see the Pope for Easter and I’d love if anyone would like to join me. One friend … Read More

Be Transformed

Andrea JLast Updated: August 4th, 2022Pilgrims' Stories, Spiritual Reflections

This weekend we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration, where the disciples encountered Jesus’ divinity in a profound way.  This encounter was so meaningful to them that they wanted to stay there and bask in His glory.  The same can happen to us throughout our own spiritual lives.  Whether in prayer, on retreat, or even … Read More

Holy Land Inspiration

Richard SontagLast Updated: July 8th, 2022Featured Pilgrimages, Holy Land, Pilgrims' Stories, Priests, Spiritual Reflections

A little over a month ago, several seminarians, priests, and lay faithful had the pleasure and privilege of taking a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and the trip was not like your standard trip (as if a trip to the king of the universe’s stomping grounds could ever be standard). Covid was still hanging in … Read More

My Final Three

Bri CampbellLast Updated: June 17th, 2022Holy Land, Italy, Medjugorje, Pilgrims' Stories, Spiritual Reflections

July 10, 2017, was my first day working at Tekton Ministries. Nearly 5 years later, I find myself recounting the memories of my top three pilgrimages.  Perhaps you may find inspiration for your next pilgrimage… Italy I went to Italy with Tekton Ministries as I graduated college in 2017. Little did I know, I would … Read More

Unexpected Blessings

Andrea JLast Updated: June 1st, 2022Camino de Santiago, Holy Land, Pilgrims' Stories

I first learned about the Camino de Santiago my senior year of college. It became a dream of mine from that day on. I never knew how I could make it a reality, given the logistics of needing at least a month off work and the money to cover all the costs.  So, the dream … Read More

Drawing Near to our Mothers

Andrea JLast Updated: May 11th, 2022Camino de Santiago, Marian Shrines of Europe, Pilgrims' Stories, Spiritual Reflections

Nine years ago, while I was in the Chapel of the Apparitions in Fatima, our priest shared a story about one of our fellow pilgrims.  At seventeen, she was one of the younger ones in our group and was on this pilgrimage with her older siblings and parents.  We had recently walked five days on … Read More

How to Add Moments to your Life

Bri CampbellLast Updated: March 24th, 2022Medjugorje, Pilgrims' Stories, Spiritual Reflections

This past Saturday, I returned to the U.S. from a week-long stay in Medjugorje – a small village nestled in the hills of Bosnia-Herzegovina, not far from the coast of the Adriatic Sea. When asked, most people cannot point to this place on a map. They’ve never heard of Bosnia-Herzegovina, let alone the pilgrimage site … Read More

Our Lady, Queen of Peace, Pray for Us

Andrea JLast Updated: March 24th, 2022Pilgrims' Stories, Spiritual Reflections

Every day in our morning prayers at the office, we invoke the intercession of Mary under the title Queen of Peace.  This is especially fitting this week, as Pope Francis called for a day of prayer and fasting on Ash Wednesday for the situation in Ukraine. The title of Mary as Our Lady of Peace … Read More

The Return to the Holy Land

Andrea JLast Updated: March 24th, 2022Featured Pilgrimages, Holy Land, Pilgrims' Stories

Well, it finally happened. After almost exactly 2 years, which really felt like much longer, we had a pilgrimage group depart for the Holy Land. Though those of us here in the office would have preferred to have gone with them, we have been delighting in their pictures and stories they have shared with us … Read More

Preparing the Heart for Pilgrimage

Bri CampbellLast Updated: March 24th, 2022Medjugorje, Pilgrims' Stories, Spiritual Reflections, Upcoming Pilgrimages

It has been exactly 2 years, 9 months, and 4 days since my last pilgrimage. In May of 2019, I was blessed with the opportunity to visit the Holy Land with my home parish. Looking back, it was such an easy journey – without the burden of COVID restrictions and new policies, it seems unbelievable … Read More

When Your Pilgrimage Becomes Difficult

Andrea JLast Updated: March 24th, 2022Pilgrims' Stories, Spiritual Reflections

The past two years have brought lots of ups and downs in the pilgrimage world. We had two groups travel in February of 2020 and then mere days before we were to send others, everything shut down. March groups were postponed to October, then to the following March, then again to the fall, and once … Read More