Dear Friends,

As you read this, a group of parishioners and I are in Jerusalem on a pilgrimage of prayer. Today we celebrate the feast of Pentecost and we plan on spending time in prayer in the Upper Room where the disciples had gathered in fear, but left filled with the Holy Spirit.

We could, of course, have prayed to God right here in Papillion and God would have heard us just fine. God is not hard of hearing nor is His hearing better in the Holy Land. Pilgrimages are not for God’s sake but for our own. The pilgrimage does not so much improve God’s hearing as it improves our speaking.

The idea of pilgrimage as part of our spiritual journey is ancient. From the time of our ancestors wandering in the desert as they sought the promised land to Jesus’ own time in the desert to this very day spiritual seekers have gone on pilgrimage. Spiritual literature abounds with images of pilgrimage. There are ladders to ascend, mountains to climb, deserts to cross, and holy places to visit. Vatican Council II clearly emphasized the Church itself as the pilgrim people of God, "led by the Holy Spirit in their journey to the kingdom of their Father…nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts."

Those of you who were in the bible study with me when we studied the psalms, may recall the psalms suggest that the life of faith is always a journey with God through a recurring pattern of

1) being securely orientated,
2) being painfully disorientated, and
3) being surprisingly re-orientated.

The psalms provide help for the journey in each of its phases. They provide expressions of faith in the midst of security, in suffering and despair, and in the moments of victory and peace. What we hope for in a pilgrimage is to leave our comfort and be able to see with new eyes what God has in store for us. We choose a bit of disorientation so that we can again find our way to solid footing with God.

Throughout these days in the Holy Land, I will be placing your intentions and the good of our parish before God. From sunup to sundown I will be praying for you and thinking about you. I am sure God will continue to bless our parish with the fullness of His Spirit. The wonders that happened in the early church following the day of Pentecost will be present among us.

As a parish we begin our time of prayer again for the success of our Spirituality Alive. This effort brought many of our parishioners closer to God and to each other this past year. We pray that it may continue to bless our parish. Please join me in praying for its success. Perhaps you would be willing to be a prayer walker in your neighborhood bringing the power of prayer to those who live near to you.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers in our parish. Enjoy your special day!

Peace,

Fr. Damian