Rome, Italy: site 1
It’s go-time guys! Tomorrow we’ll head out for the first feast day on our calendar: St. Francis of Assisi. I’m train trippin’up to Assisi to show you St. Francis’ tomb, so stay tuned to celebrate our favorite mendicant.
Today however, we collect ourselves in Rome before the adventure begins.
Traveling busies your head with train schedules and maps, which is a stark contrast to stepping into the chapels we’ll be setting out for. I traveled last week from the US to Ireland before arriving in Rome to start the pilgrimage. After all that rushing—and effectively stimulating my brain—sitting in front of the Holy Sacrament this morning finally asked nothing of me. except to sit. in silence. before God.
After kneeling merely a few minutes my body was already instinctively moving to get up and go again, which would have cut short what was waiting to be a quality time in prayer, and it was only due to the habit of being on the go.
It took some time kneeling in the silence before my brain was finally relaxed and my ears were open, and that, is what we wait for in prayer: the moment when our brain has stopped talking and our ears have started listening. It’s the moment when God starts to talk. 
I offered my time in the silence this morning for you all, pilgrims. I hope that this year, each feast day is an opportunity for you to enjoy moments of silence and hear all the good things God has to say to you.
I followed with Mass after having sat and prayed a while and God kept talking to me there. The Gospel this morning was LUKE 9:51 when Jesus redirects James and John’s mission. He reroutes them to go somewhere else entirely.
Spending time in prayer is the best way to know what road God is charting out in front of us, and likely, His plans for each of us is different than what we foresee. This year though, as we encounter each new saint and spend time contemplating their lives in service to God, we have the opportunity to open our minds (and hearts) to where God is leading us.
We may just find that He desires us to take our lives in a different direction than we had in mind. I can tell you that my life would certainly be different if it had gone according to my plans rather thus far! Truly though, the places God has taken me have been beyond my imagination; places my own planning wouldn’t have been able to take me. So I’m especially excited for this pilgrimage year because the good that lies ahead may also be beyond my imagination.
Come with me on this pilgrimage, I really think it’s going to be a good one! I’m praying that it is fruitful in your lives too.
The Pilgrimage 