The Pilgrim's Journey

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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

Prepare for the Fish

Bri CampbellLast Updated: March 24th, 2022Spiritual Reflections

Jesus said to his disciples: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which one of you would hand … 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

Praying for Rain

Andrea JLast Updated: March 24th, 2022Italy, Saints

Petition is one of many types of prayer, asking the Lord for guidance, graces, healing, and more.  In petitioning God the Father, we are only following the command of Jesus, as He shared with His disciples: “And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will … 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

Preparing for the Unexpected

Andrea JLast Updated: March 24th, 2022Camino de Santiago, Holy Land, Pilgrims' Stories

Our first pilgrimage to the holy Land in nearly two years is departing in just over a week.  They have received their pilgrim packets with their luggage tags and booklet.  Their e-tickets are in their inboxes, and their final preparation meeting was earlier this week. We – and their group leaders – have done our … Read More

A Man for the Times

Bri CampbellLast Updated: March 24th, 2022Domestic Church, Saints, Spiritual Reflections

Last January 23, I completed my first Consecration to St. Joseph by Fr. Donald Calloway. This was during the Year of St. Joseph as proclaimed by Pope Francis on December 8, 2020. Encouraged by the testimonies of friends and my parish priest who had already begun the consecration, I decided to begin myself and picked … Read More

Living Holy Lives During the Ordinary Time

Andrea JLast Updated: March 24th, 2022Spiritual Reflections

The longest, and often most misunderstood, liturgical season is that of Ordinary Time. Ordinary, in this sense, comes from the Latin word ordinalis, meaning “numbered.” The weeks of Ordinary Time are numbered through 33 or 34 (depending on the year and how the moveable feasts fall). There are two distinct periods of Ordinary Time that … Read More

Finding Hope in Christ During Easter

Andrea JLast Updated: March 24th, 2022Spiritual Reflections

As our pilgrimage through the liturgical year continues, we arrive at Easter – the peak of the liturgical year.  While it may seem odd to reflect upon Easter just after Christmas, the two are intrinsically linked.  There would be no Easter without Christmas, and Christmas would not have the same meaning if Easter had never … Read More

Celebrating Our Mother on New Year’s Day

Bri CampbellLast Updated: March 24th, 2022Saints, Spiritual Reflections

Mothers’ Day almost always takes me by surprise. Falling in the first week of May, it seems like I never have any warning to buy the perfect gift or write the perfect card before April suddenly ends and I find myself looking Mothers’ Day in the face. I can’t say the same about the other … Read More

Praying with Christ During the Triduum

Andrea JLast Updated: March 24th, 2022Spiritual Reflections

After Lent comes the shortest liturgical season – the Triduum.  Encompassing many traditions and unique liturgies, it is the beginning of the pinnacle of the liturgical year. As Pope Pius XII wrote in his encyclical, Mediator Dei (On the Sacred Liturgy): In Holy Week, when the most bitter sufferings of Jesus Christ are put before … Read More

Remembering the Way of the Cross During Lent

Andrea JLast Updated: March 24th, 2022Spiritual Reflections

Another season of recollection and penance is Lent.  Beginning with Ash Wednesday – anytime between February 4 and March 10 – it is a six-week period characterized by increases in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. One common devotion during Lent is the praying of the Stations of the Cross. This devotion grew out of a desire … Read More

Retracing the Nativity During Advent

Andrea JLast Updated: December 1st, 2023Spiritual Reflections

The first season of the liturgical year is Advent, which is followed quickly by Christmas. This year, in fact, Christmas Eve is the fourth Sunday of Advent, meaning the season is especially truncated. The readings during this time focus on the inevitable Second Coming of Christ as well as His first coming over 2,000 years … Read More