Few can.
Youngsters, mostly. (And then only because they sing!)
Some newcomers try, too.
But nobody has to. (In a moment you’ll find out about the transport & ‘TLC’ provided every step of the way.)
Take it from the veterans: 63 miles is not as far as you think at first … taken one step at a time, in humility.
(By the way, the first step of pilgrimage is the most crucial: the one to the computer, to register.)
Every step can be ‘too far’ for the pilgrim who thinks he or she makes pilgrimage alone. Lucky for everyone, “Nobody makes pilgrimage alone.” (That’s even a byword of pilgrimage, which explains why it appears here italicized and in quotation marks.)
For, as the Eastern Christians are wont to say, by way of reminder: Christ is among us.
There are numerous occasions and ways in which every Christian encounters Christ on pilgrimage. Make pilgrimage and find out for yourself.
Encounter Christ in the sacrament of penance.
In the Most Blessed Sacrament of the altar. In prayer. (Let pilgrimage teach you again to pray, like you never have before.)
In the preaching of the sacred Clergy, or in the private counsel you receive from them.
In the new-found friends, in the souls … and ‘soles’! … of other pilgrims, who suffer, just like you — but mostly like Our Long-suffering Lord-Christ. And learn to console him.
Experience the “TLC” of Christ in the merciful aid pilgrims receive from pilgrim-volunteers of the Company of St. René Goupil.
They are ready to transport weary pilgrims every step of the way. Ready to give a cup of water, a bite of food, an helping hand in camps and on the rode. First aid, too.
Whether you walk one step or all of them to the destination shrine of Our Lady, you follow in the footsteps of the martyrs.
Jesuit Fathers – Ss. Jean de Brèbeuf & Isaac Jogues
Jesuit lay-brother,St. René Goupil
And “The Forgotten Martyr” of Huronia
Let their prayers sustain and restore you.
Pilgrimage for Restoration
Come to restore. The rest will come.
18th Annual Pilgrimage for Restoration
Friday – Sunday
September 20-22, 2013
“Now is the acceptable time.”
Jump-start your plans, even if you are not sure you can make it to Auriesville. PRE-register. It’s simple, easy & there are no strings attached: you are left free to decide later whether you can make it or not.
You can also make pilgrimage from afar, from home or parish: obtain a plenary indulgence, sponsor a pilgrim (or two), request prayers or offer them — all from this page.
Listen to and learn the Songs of Pilgrimage!
