Catholic Transcript Online

The concept of "pilgrimage" enhances "journey" with a sacred character. "Pilgrimage" might be defined as a journey made to a shrine or a sacred place as an act of religious devotion. It is a journey of sacred purpose.

This will be a year of extraordinary world pilgrimages. Every year, some six million pilgrims journey to Lourdes, France, to the shrine where our Blessed Mother appeared to St. Bernadette Soubirous and identified herself as Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. This year marks the 150^th anniversary of those appearances, and the celebrations are already under way, having begun on Dec. 8, 2007, and continuing until Dec. 8, 2008. The number of pilgrims to Lourdes increases each year, but this year, the rise should be exponential. Countless miracles of healing have been attributed to the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes, but people in general come to Lourdes as a place of spirituality that helps us live in our world today.

The 2008 International Eucharistic Congress will take place from June 15 to June 22 in Quebec City, Canada. Many of us will be going for at least part of the celebration. Papers and other study documents for reflection on the Eucharist are being sent out to deepen our appreciation for the "source and the summit" of our lives as Christians. Father David Baranowski and Ms. Lucy Zocco of our Office for Divine Worship are coordinating activities in our Archdiocese.

World Youth Day 2008 will be held from July 15 to July 20 in Sydney, Australia. The theme is "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses." (Acts 1:8) Sydney is a long way from Connecticut, but some people from here will be going. Information may be obtained from the director of our Office of Religious Education, Msgr. Michael Motta.

We have all heard that Pope Benedict XVI will be visiting the United States – Washington and New York – from April 15 to April 20. Our Archdiocese has been invited to the Mass the Holy Father will celebrate in Yankee Stadium on Sunday, April 20. After inquiries I mailed out to all of our parishes, it is estimated that some 6,000 people from our Archdiocese wish to go. When we hear in January the precise forms of personal identification that will be required, I will write again to our pastors requesting the exact number and the appropriate information about the people wishing to participate. You may seek further information on this from your pastor. The occasion will be another expression of pilgrimage.

Pilgrimages are as old as the Church. Visiting the Holy Land and praying at the sites where Our Lord Jesus Christ walked, ate, drank, preached, healed, died, and rose from the dead have been religious exercises for two millennia. Rome, the Eternal City and the burial place of SS. Peter and Paul and so many other martyrs, is a magnet that draws increasing millions of pilgrims from all over the planet every year. The world shrines of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Lourdes, Fatima, Guadalupe, Czestochowa, Loreto, Knock and so many others – continue to strengthen the faith of countless pilgrims.

Music, art, and literature strengthen the phenomenon. "Immaculate Mary," the Lourdes Hymn, is sung all over the world. Paintings of the Nativity and Epiphany scenes are pilgrimage art. "The Canterbury Tales," by Geoffrey Chaucer of the late 14^th century, is a collection of narrative poems, not all overly edifying, purported to be told by pilgrims on the way to the shrine of St.Thomas Becket, Canterbury. "Tannhäuser," the 19^th century opera by Richard Wagner, offers the perennial classic, "Pilgrims’ Chorus," rendered by those on their way to Rome. "Piers Plowman," a 14^th-century poem attributed to William Langland, develops the theme, "How may I save my soul in the pilgrimage of life?"

And that is the point. All life is a pilgrimage, a journey to a future state of blessedness. Every day is sacred, an opportunity to love God and love our neighbors. Pilgrimages to sacred shrines and ceremonies are important as events that renew and strengthen our faith, for the pilgrimage of every day. Going to Mass in our parish church is a pilgrimage to thank God for the blessings of the previous week (or day) and to beseech His blessings on the week (or day) ahead.

The beginning of a New Year prompts us to reflect on the journey of the past year and the challenges of the year ahead. Whether or not we write a personal journal, we might ask ourselves, what are the trends in our lives? What provides unity, purpose, coherence, and meaning to us? All of us, saints, mystics, sinners, are called to look at the blind spots, the shadows in our lives. What keeps us from stronger union with God and deeper compassion for our neighbors?

It is said that New Year’s resolutions are made to be broken. Perhaps some already are, but this is too early for a trend. We know many people who keep resolutions concerning smoking, excessive drinking, abuse of drugs – anabolic steroids, human growth hormones, performance enhancing drugs – and resolutions to stop immoral sexual activity. The list goes on, and our life’s pilgrimage continues, thank God.

Allow me, at this point, to express my deepest gratitude to you for the profoundly impressive trend you continue to develop. The results of the 2007 Archbishop’s Annual Appeal have reached at press time a total of $9,633,065. The progress is amazing.

This dramatic evidence of your generous love for God and our neighbors proves that you certainly know how to journey in prayer and action, that you know how to be faithful pilgrims. With utmost appreciation and esteem, I wish you a Happy New Year. May God abundantly bless us all together for 2008 and many years to come.