Last year, I led a group of my active-duty parishioners to a pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi. Little did we know that the pilgrimage would providentially coincide with the passing of Pope Francis, so the chaos began to unfold as Rome went into full mourning mode. Everything began to fall apart in order to fall into place as God intended it to be! There were a lot of hiccups, delays, and mishaps with the trip, but being military, many of our people were willing to pivot, adapt, and overcome the obstacles as best as possible, so as to make it into a spiritual experience. Thus, I would like to share with you some of those experiences as a way to reflect on how God can use things that do not go our way to bring greater goodness and love as He planned for us.
Our flight to Rome was very interesting and unexpected. An elderly father of one of our parishioners was joining us from the US for the pilgrimage, and he was fine throughout his stay with us beforehand. However, as I was sitting in my seat, my former Parish Life Coordinator ran up the aisle and told me in a distressed voice and in tears, “Father, can you please come? My father-in-law is not breathing, and they are working on him.” I quickly made my way down to the aisle as the flight attendant asked for help from any passenger who had a medical background. I quickly saw his family members, who were in tears out of shock, but I stood back so he could be medically assisted first. I kept my eyes on him, making sure to step in if anything was to happen.
For some reason, he stopped breathing for a while, and the Apple Watch notified them… they had to give him oxygen, especially due to the thinner air in the plane. Once they stabilized him, I sat down with him (while he still had the oxygen mask on) to check up on him. He told me he had a dream of being uplifted to heaven and felt so at peace that he was not aware of where he was…
I believe it was a near-death experience, or a kind of free gift and consolation that the Lord gave him. Nonetheless, it definitely scared his family and many people on that plane! I told him that I am going to give him a “get out of jail free” card, just in case anything escalates (in giving him a general absolution). His son went back to sit close to him for the rest of the flight. We checked into the airport’s medical facility once we landed, and we kept an eye on him throughout the trip… but he was himself again afterward. Whatever happened was definitely something we did not expect, but I am grateful to be there.
As shared earlier, our trip was changed when Pope Francis passed away, and Rome went into full mourning mode. Our Vatican Museums time was significantly delayed, and we had to persistently tell the staff that things were properly booked and scheduled. They kept demanding new documents that were not communicated to us beforehand. It was frustrating, but I am not the type of person who is known to give up easily, nor was my Parish Life Coordinator, so we stuck to our guns so our group could get to the beautiful artworks and the Sistine Chapel before it gets closed down for the conclave. They finally made it work after an almost hour delay!
Because of that delay, we later found out that the main and surrounding streets to St. Peter’s Basilica were blocked due to state officials and dignitaries coming in to pay respect to the Holy Father. We had a Mass scheduled at Santa Maria in Traspontina, but the police and security officials would not let us through, even when I showed them the confirmation. Furthermore, our group was being diverted elsewhere because they were trying to move the crowd away from the Via della Conciliazione. I asked my assistant to keep the group together as I tried to find my way in. I was able to find the Benedictine monks (the community in charge of the parish) to come with me to vouch for the group, but they said that I was fine to come in as a priest, but not the rest of the people, due to security restrictions. Out of desperation, I asked the monk if there was another way…
Praise God, the pastor of the parish was around, and he was very understanding. By that time, we were way past our scheduled time, and there was another group in the main sanctuary for their next scheduled Mass. I asked him a favor, if we could find just a small chapel or room to celebrate Mass, because it would mean a lot to the pilgrims. Out of their kindness and compassion, the priests and brothers set up a space for us to offer Mass in the sacristy space. I was asked to return the favor by consecrating the hosts for the Holy Father’s Funeral Mass tomorrow, which I was surprisingly but honored to supply. In that sacristy space, we were literally surrounded by the Eucharist in all the ciboria (after the consecration). That sacristy became a big tabernacle. What fell apart came together as He intended, and it was a great surprise and honor to consecrate the Eucharist to be used to honor the life of a humble pope.
I explained that reality to our pilgrims to remind them that God gave us an unexpected but wonderful gift on that day! We did not get to go through the Holy Door as desired or have Mass where we were scheduled, but we were led to where we were needed, as well as to humble us in recognizing that He was indeed truly present with us throughout the journey. Our Mass was definitely different as we took time to soak in His goodness and give thanks for what we were given an opportunity to do. I took the time to thank the priests and brothers for being so merciful and accommodating, and gave thanks to the Lord after Mass for another example of letting things fall apart as I planned for things to be in order to fall into place as He willed them to be in His infinite goodness, wisdom, and love.
Life is very much like a pilgrimage. It is messy, frustrating, and discouraging at times. Things do not always go our way, even when we work hard, plan things out, and do our best to mitigate issues. As a matter of fact, reality and life are way bigger than what we can see, understand, and comprehend, and there are so many things that are outside of our control. Thus, we can either choose to always be negative, resentful, bitter, angry, or cynical or allow ourselves to be pilgrims on the Way toward Him, never forgetting the challenging and joyful moments of the adventure instead of fixating on one thing after the next. Furthermore, it is important for us to open our eyes to see who is around us and on the Way with us, always remembering and recalling why we persevere, remain faithful, and choose to love. Things will get challenging and disheartening at times, and we love to fixate ourselves on what we should do and how to overcome them, even toward the detriment of ourselves and others by allowing them to become the only things that we focus on instead of the people who matter and the reason why we live.
Every time we embark on a pilgrimage, I remind our people that we are pilgrims and not tourists! A typical tourist focuses on the itinerary and expects to do things to check off their list. A typical tourist oftentimes expects things to be catered to or adapted to their needs. They see objects and things based on historical, architectural, or social media interests. A tourist sees sights, discovers new places, learns interesting facts, takes photographs, and accumulates souvenirs. A tourist may be hasty and impatient, mentally checking off things because they want to show others or to themselves that they had done this or that thing, like everyone else! The tourist travels to have a break from their daily life and wants an enticing experience to escape who they normally are. The tourist returns home the same person as the one who left, save perhaps for a broadened mind.
However, a pilgrim sets out to discover themselves. The pilgrim gains insights and discerns new truths about oneself. The pilgrim travels with the expectation that the one who returns will not be the same person as the one who set out. The pilgrim opens his or her mind to see the signs, learn the lessons, and embrace the journey. He or she will not become a slave to a timetable or be distracted by gift shops. The pilgrim is open to the possibility of being challenged by God on the journey. Thus, the outcome of the pilgrimage will be the transformation that has taken place inside the person. Therefore, the pilgrim will return with an impression imprinted on the soul because they focus on the journey and travel to find out who they truly are. Simply put, a pilgrim on the Way grows in love of Jesus.
Much more, a pilgrim does not expect everything to go smoothly. They do not get stressed over delays, itinerary changes, bad weather, or when things do not go their way. They are respectful of others, especially of the local customs, cultures, and the people on the Way with them. The pilgrim is open to encounters with others that build community and relationships. The pilgrim is open to sharing their personal faith stories and to appreciating and learning from the faith of others. The pilgrim learns to be patient and forgiving of those who are trying to make a living (even with less-than-desirable tactics because of the presence of tourists). The pilgrim even accepts the presence of beggars and the ubiquitous expectation of tips, realizing that the locals’ pay rates are low or the practices could have been perpetuated by other tourism. Simply put, a pilgrim has an open mind and places themselves in God‘s loving providence to learn from the journey and on the journey.
If you and I really think about it, we can learn much from the attitude we should have when we are on a pilgrimage and expand it toward our very own lives as we embark on the spiritual journey toward our final destination of the heavenly homeland. Things will not go our way and are, many times, out of control! However, may we not lose the sense of wonder and awe, simplicity and joy, as well as hope and trust in the God of the journey who is with us. As a matter of fact, we are being reminded that the Lord walked with His disciples everywhere in His public ministry, and He taught them along the way, and took time to gently guide them when they did not get it right. Therefore, we also learn to embrace our life as a journey toward Him, learning, abiding, persevering, and remaining faithful to Him even when it gets challenging. So, will we choose to be typical and busy tourists or will we be mindful and faith-filled pilgrims walking alongside the Lord and one another on the Way toward our final destination?