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Seeking God's love, mercy during a pilgrimage

Travel can be sacred with prayer, intention during Year of Mercy

Published: February 26, 2016   

By Aprille Hanson
Associate Editor

Michał Piec / Dreamstime.com
A man prays the rosary during a pilgrimage to Czestochowa, Poland, in July 2012. A pilgrimage is not so much about the destination as it is about what’s in someone’s heart, said Father John Marconi, pastor at St. Joseph Church in Conway and the Year of Mercy Committee chairman for the diocese.

Christians have been seeking Jesus since he walked the earth 2,000 years ago. The disciples left behind family, friends, jobs, the lives they were living to follow the path of God.

For Catholics, it is still our desire to seek him. This is where taking up our cross and going on a pilgrimage starts.

In this Year of Mercy, Catholics are called to take a pilgrimage to the official diocesan holy door at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Little Rock. But, the journey is more complex than just driving to the door and it is not the only religious pilgrimage one can take to find mercy in the Lord.

 

Open hearts

The key to taking a religious pilgrimage is an open heart, said Father John Marconi, pastor at St. Joseph Church in Conway and the Year of Mercy Committee chairman for the Diocese of Little Rock.

“It’s really seeking a deeper relationship with God. Start off with some sense of prayer,” Father Marconi said. “When they travel, no matter where they travel from, it would be good to pray the rosary together … or do a meditation before they even take off. Turn off the radio. The only way we can be in touch with God is to give him time.”

At the diocesan holy door, pamphlets are available explaining how to walk through the holy door with proper reverence through prayer, to have the opportunity to provide a meaningful confession and to attend Mass.

“The Holy Father wants us to get in touch with the richness of Jesus in our life. Jesus is the face of the Father; if we receive Jesus in our lives, we should be the face of Jesus toward others,” Father Marconi said.

Typically, a holy site is designated by the pope or bishops, but as a rule of thumb, holy sites can be where the Eucharist is present (meaning a church) or a shrine to a saint. 

But a pilgrimage is not so much about the destination as it is about what’s in someone’s heart, Father Marconi said, adding that even going out in nature can be a pilgrimage.

“There has to be that distinction between the pilgrimage and a nice little trip. One who is seeking God in a different way or seeking certain favors,” from God, he said. “Going outside in nature” can be fulfilling, he said, “but there’s no guarantee with what you’re going to receive from something like that as going to a holy door.”

 

Studying like a seminarian

Every first Saturday of the month when pilgrimages to the holy door at Our Lady of Good Counsel will include Mass and reconciliation, seminarians will host tours of the House of Formation, located on church grounds.

Once pilgrims have spent as much time as they’d like in prayer at the church, some of the seminarians will walk them over to the house, explaining the importance of why it’s there.

“It’s a tremendous blessing to have the House of Formation in Little Rock, to get to know the people we’re serving before we’re ordained,” said seminarian Ben Riley.

Pilgrims will get a quick tour of the house, the annex and the chapel, which holds relics including the True Cross and about 30 reliquaries for saints, including St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Francis of Assisi and St. Teresa of Ávila. A seminarian will be there to explain the significance of relics, Riley said.

A slideshow will then be presented by the seminarians in an annex classroom, which will explain “the Year of mercy and what an indulgence is, some definitions of things that not necessarily everyone will understand, to create a richer experience while experiencing the holy door and time in the chapel,” he said. 

Riley, 21, said it’s important for everyone to experience a pilgrimage, but it can especially be moving for young people.

“In today’s society there is so much noise in our day-to-day lives. Young people are always on their cell phones, myself included, TV, computers, music, no one gets in their car without turning on NPR or some music channel,” Riley said. “It’s about having the opportunity to come and sit in silence and really listen to where the Lord is calling you in life … especially for younger Catholics who may not have had an opportunity to ask the Lord where they’re being called to live their lives.”

 

Walk by faith

Debbie King vividly remembers the spiritual impact of a pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, while her husband, Deacon Butch King, at Immaculate Conception Church in North Little Rock, was stationed in Europe.

“Being a cradle Catholic, I’d always heard of pilgrimages to Lourdes,” she said. 

It was just one of countless religious pilgrimages King has made throughout her life.

“Holy sites and churches — it’s just a way of life” for Catholics, King said.

Thanks to her husband’s 23-year military career, she’s made pilgrimages to several holy sites, including the Shrine Our Lady of Walsingham in England and to the Shrine of Padre Pio in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy.

“It draws us out of our everyday environment and we become open to receive what God has for us,” King said. “We take who we are and present ourselves to God in a new way.”

King, who has hosted several pilgrimages at Arkansas churches, said a key part of any pilgrimage is corporal works of mercy.

“Within our human nature we want to give to others. If somebody gets a new motorcycle, they want to take friends on it, they want to share it. When we get a gift from God we want to share that,” King said.

This year, King is organizing two more pilgrimages to the holy door at Immaculate Conception Church in Memphis and to EWTN in Alabama through the church’s Divine Mercy Committee.

“I chose Memphis because it could be a day pilgrimage and I have made several pilgrimages to EWTN,” King said, adding pilgrims will be on the live Wednesday night broadcast from EWTN. “You just can’t plan too many because if it’s the same people it can be a financial burden.”

Costs are associated with each pilgrimage, but King said anyone is welcome to sign up. More information is at iccnlr.org/year-of-mercy-pilgrimage-.html. 

“Just to have the desire to open your heart to God,” is the most important part of a pilgrimage, King said. “If you’re open, he can just do marvelous things. We can’t limit what God can do. I’m going to grow in my faith however God plans that for me and my life and my family.”

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