I got to experience two stops on the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage this summer. One was up north, near the headwaters of the Mississippi River. The other was in the Midwest, at a Kansas stop along the Missouri River. The weather was very different at each stop; Minnesota in May was cool, overcast, and beautiful. Kansas in late June was hot, sunny, and, well, hot. Both places left an unforgettable impression on me and the pilgrims I was with, however.
An eagle in Minnesota
In Minnesota, at the outdoor Pentecost Mass that began the Marian route, an eagle circled above our heads while the very long procession of priests, altar servers, knights, and bishops processed in.
Bishop Cozzens, the celebrant of the Mass, drew our attention to the eagle during the homily. Funnily enough, many of us hadn’t noticed it because we had been watching the priests. The priests and bishops had noticed it, however, because their gaze was turned towards the altar and the sky.
Talk about an auspicious start to the Eucharistic Pilgrimage — a bird circles a crowd of believers on the feast of Pentecost. That wasn’t my last experience of the Holy Spirit’s presence on the pilgrimage route, however.
Sun and sweat in Kansas
A little over a month later, the fire of the Holy Spirit became real to me and my fellow pilgrims on the Serra route as it traveled through Kansas. The sweltering sun was uncomfortable and overpowering. It was in the discomfort of the fiery heat, however, that my fellow pilgrims found inspiration.
One pilgrim said, “It’s amazing what people will endure for the Eucharist. It is incredibly hot, yet so many people walked the two-mile route, mostly uphill with little shade and even less breeze. At the end of the pilgrimage, when there was dinner indoors, someone walked out of her office and complained out loud at how the building smelled like sweat. But I reveled in the smell of so many sweaty people—because it showed how much they were willing to endure to literally follow Jesus.”
Another pilgrim who started the route with her children, and then dropped them off with her husband halfway through to finish the route alone, put it this way:
“While I was walking it dawned on me that even though I was dripping with sweat I didn’t mind the heat at all. It makes 100% difference in my level of comfort whether or not I have children touching me! Then I decided I must be in the right vocation because the presence of my children brings me equal parts immense joy and immense suffering, and I felt a renewed sense of vocation.”
Deciding to become a pilgrim
The heat helped me too. When I stepped outside that afternoon, I reconsidered whether I should attempt the whole two-mile route or even go at all. Maybe I would just go to the indoor Mass and Vespers later that evening. I finally decided to go, and it was worth every sweaty minute. Multiple times throughout the route I was touched by someone’s kindness to me, or someone’s reverence for our Lord in the monstrance. All of which I would have missed had I stayed at home, comfortable with my fans and air conditioning.
If there is a chance for you to participate in any way in the Eucharistic Pilgrimage in these last few weeks, do! At Masses for both routes, the celebrant bishops told stories relating the power of personal prayer in their lives. Their witness moved me to tears. At the processions for both routes, the sheer number of people on fire for the Eucharist surprised me. Their zeal increased my faith.
Lessons learned
My biggest takeaway was that the Holy Spirit is present if I remain alert and awake. If I had kept my eyes fixed on the altar, (or even just looked there occasionally) instead of only looking at the long procession at the beginning of Mass, I could have seen the eagle that circled the event.
I was also reminded that sometimes, the Holy Spirit’s presence feels uncomfortable. Like the cloying heat that challenged me and so many other pilgrims, the fire of the Holy Spirit sometimes burns us to clarify something. He wants to show us something in our lives that needs to change or draw attention to something we don’t notice when we are comfortable.
Come, Holy Spirit, bring us to God the Father through Jesus in the Eucharist!
And today we celebrate...