Pilgrimage Blessings
Were you on pilgrimage with us? Did you go on a different pilgrimage recently? What blessings did you receive?Programming note - our platform does not allow for direct response to comments. We do read them and are praying for our listeners. God bless!
Isaiah Peterson
I was blessed to be one of the pilgrims with Photina last month. There were a ton of blessings, most of which I am still processing. One of them was the ability to experience being a pilgrim in Mariapocs! The simplicity of the pilgrim house rather than it being a 3 or 4 star hotel, made it so much easier to just be, pray, and keep a spirit of encounter with the Lord. The town itself is very simple, and it isn’t a tourist attraction. Visitors are there to see the miraculous icon and pray, and the stillness of this little town in Hungary was a relief from the bustle of big cities like Krakow. My mind kept returning to multiple episodes where Father Michael and Mother Natalia spoke about hoping to have a good level of discomfort on the pilgrimage, because this is what a pilgrimage should be. Reference “Get Uncomfortable” (April 2). We can easily get distracted by creature comforts and lose a sense of our journey and homelessness, our need for fulfilment!
With that said, It was such a beautiful thing to see the faces of our group light up when our tour guide had to regretfully announce that electricity was out, and we would have to take cold showers and walk the suitcases up the stairs instead of using the elevator—there wouldn’t be any electric lighting that evening, either. Instead of being irritated, everyone had this excited smile on their faces, including myself. There was a sense of, “Yes! a chance to suffer!” Even though the electricity came on after only a few hours, what struck me was the joy at getting to experience a little taste of discomfort; there also seemed to be a deepening level of our communion with each other.
I was hoping for the taste of being a pilgrim rather than just a tourist prior to the trip; I feel like I got this desire fulfilled! For myself, my mind was constantly on the icon while we were in Mariapocs, and I was always ready to visit the church and pray there. There was a purification of my heart because of this discomfort, and deeper openness of heart to our Lady and Jesus. I am taking this fruit with me into my daily life, because it helps me to see discomfort and loss of control as instances of poverty—channels of grace, and to lean into a longing for heaven.
Our Lady of Mariapocs, be our Mother, our life, our sweetness, and our hope!