On Vacation and Flooding
It is important for me (and everyone) to take vacation and to be away. Partly for my own mental health – to decompress, to reconnect with neglected parts of myself, to gain new perspectives – and partly to signal to my staff and parishioners that I am not Jesus and that the Church, the world, and our parishes can operate for a time without me.
The limit of that perspective, though, is crisis. I did not like being away from our people and our parishes as we faced down historic flooding. I did not like being unavailable when people might be at their greatest need. There is, of course, very little that my personal presence could have changed – but Jesus specifically entered into our muck to save us, and the priestly impulse is to be with people in their muck. Please be assured that I was praying hard for everyone those last few days before I could return.
Unfortunately, there is not a lot our churches can do specifically or concretely. Aid to people whose lives have washed away will come from larger organizations that specialize in this work or will come from individual family members and friends. Olivia Phillips is putting together a list (that should have been in this bulletin) of those organizations, if you would like to help them financially. And if you know someone in need, please still let us know – sometimes we can facilitate those family and friend connections. Otherwise, please pray for every family that has been driven from their housing or has to start over, that they would know the presence of Christ directly and through the support of their community.
Pilgrimage Report
I could write an entire travel blog about the 10 days I spent in Geneva, London, and Rome, but that wouldn’t fit well into a bulletin. So some highlights.
Geneva/Annecy – Sts. Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal
The more I learn about St. Francis de Sales, the more I feel kinship with him in his life, ministry, and spirituality. I prepared for this trip by listening to a five-hour lecture on his life, the life of St. Jane, and the Salesian approach to faith. My heart was swelling the entire time. Finally visiting their tombs was a bucket-list moment.
I was struck by how little visited the church was. It is clearly not a pilgrimage site that most people choose to frequent (and I can tell you, it was not easy to get to!). But I think that made it even more of a true pilgrimage for me – the sacrifice, the weird logistics, the long hike up a very tall hill (every pilgrimage seems to have this…) and finally the being alone in the church pouring out my heart to these amazing saints.
Rome – St. Monica
More than anything else, Rome is a city full of saints. The best summary I can give you for my take aways from Rome is the homily I preached to our pilgrimage group: https://moorejesus.podbean.com/e/all-christians-are-martyrs/
I was very intentional to bring the petitions of our parishioners with me. I knew that I was blessed to go to Rome and that not all of our parishioners would ever have that opportunity, so I took my duty to offer their prayers seriously and I was constantly looking for saints and locations that spoke to what they were asking of God. The location that most surprised and delighted me was the tomb of St. Monica. (I didn’t even realize she had been moved to Rome!)
So much of the heartbreak in our church comes from children, family members, and friends who have left the Church, and about 1/3 of the petitions I brought with me related to that. St. Monica, because of her own story praying for the conversion of her son, is a powerful intercessor for those petitions. I was deeply moved by the ability to bring all of the prayers for conversion to her feet.
In fact, there were so many of these petitions, and my time with St. Monica was so limited, I had a further revelation – throughout the pilgrimage, I was rarely able to offer the petitions of our parishioners with deep feeling or in silent contemplation. I usually only had a few minutes before rushing off, and even when I had time I struggled to concentrate. But sitting in front of St. Monica’s tomb helped me realize that my job was simply to bring the petitions and put them in her (and the other saints’) hands. Then they would do all of the heavy lifting, over time, from heaven. I began to think of myself as a mail courier – my job as a pilgrim was to get there and to ask (which I faithfully did), and they would do the rest.
Please be assured that I prayed for everyone on the list, and many more besides, at all kinds of different locations that I do not have space to mention here. It was a privilege to bring you to the Lord through the saints.
London – Katherine of Aragon
Katherine of Aragon, the youngest daughter of “Los Reyes Catolicos” (Ferdinand and Isabella) and wife of King Henry VIII, is not a saint. Nevertheless, my understanding of her life is that she was a holy and devout person, deeply dedicated to the Catholic faith, persecuted for her witness to the sanctity of marriage. We Catholics are allowed personal veneration for people we consider to be holy, though we have to wait until the Church makes official declarations before we can ask for their intercession publicly (explainer). All saints started by being venerated by a small number of people who pushed for their canonization.
With all of this in mind, I visited the tomb of Queen Katherine of Aragon (another out of the way stop, I assure you). And I found the experience very moving. I sat staring at her tomb for more than 30-minutes, just contemplating her life and the subsequent history of her treatment by historians, Catholics, and Protestants. It was rather emotional for me. I am not sure if anyone will ever succeed in pushing for her canonization, but I am more and more convinced that someone should try. I will definitely be praying for that.
Two Loose Ends
- I promised I would use this to evaluate my comfort in a pilgrimage group, with the potential of leading a parish pilgrimage in the future. I am far more comfortable with this idea now, though I find the group setting far less relaxing and enjoyable than the individual setting. So I’ll need to evaluate whether I think of a parish pilgrimage as vacation or as a work activity for myself. (Also, it looks like Fr. Tyler beat me to the punch. More on that soon. 😉)
- My last night in London was free and all the museums were closed, so I went to watch the new Netflix movie “Wake Up Dead Man”. I strongly recommend it. Its plot is very priest-centric, and their portrayal of the young priest struck me as incredibly accurate and empathetic. One of the best portrayals of priesthood I have seen in a while. (It sounds like they had an excellent priest advisor.)
Fr. Moore 