Michele Dunne, OFS
As we begin our fraternity’s virtual pilgrimage to the Holy Land, I am reminded of the stages of
religious pilgrimage as discussed by DePaul University scholar Dr Ken Butigan during a recent
online course: the longing, the call, the preparation, the departure, the journey, the arrival at the
center, the return, and the integration. The “arrival at the center”—the moment when the pilgrim
experiences some important blessing or insight that makes the meaning of the pilgrimage
clear—is particularly intriguing.
As a fraternity, we perhaps have already experienced the longing to make a pilgrimage to the
Holy Land and the call to do so; in fact, that came from our Spiritual Assistant, Fr. Jim. We have
prepared for the pilgrimage by choosing a book to guide us and through the volunteering of
several fraternity members to lead us on our monthly excursions.
Now it is time to depart and begin our journey. For the first place we will visit, I have chosen the
village of Ein Karem, the traditional site of the Visitation. The feast of the Visitation is coming up
at the end of May, so we are keeping in step with the liturgical calendar. And the Visitation is
also about a journey: the journey of Mary to visit her older kinswoman Elizabeth and to share
the wonder of their two pregnancies. That would have been a kind of pilgrimage for the young
Virgin Mary, seeking out the confirmation of the divine sign given to her by the Angel Gabriel.
The Visitation also reminds me of holy friendship—the sort of friendship we share as
Franciscans. Whatever our diversity in terms of age, sex, ethnicity, etc., I am always amazed at
how we can look into each other’s eyes and understand one another. We know we are on the
same path: following Jesus Christ in the special way that St. Francis and St. Clare showed us.
We understand each other’s joys and struggles in a special way, and we hold each other in love
and prayer as true spiritual brothers and sisters, just as Elizabeth and Mary did.
Keep well, my dear friends, and let us meet soon on our shared pilgrimage. We are departing
and starting the journey; who knows when and where our “arrival at the center” of the pilgrimage
will be?