From the Pilgrims' Road: Letter 4

March 2024

My Easter friends,

I’ve returned from the rambling roads and wild wastes of the world to bring you tales of my travels this past month or so. I haven’t been all over the world, but I’ve been blessed with a rich experience where I have been, and I imagine that will be a consistent blessing of missionary life.

This title “From the Pilgrims’ Road” will be the title of all my mission newsletter posts going forward. I think it’s best to make them uniform and set them apart from my other writing for those of you who are primarily here to support me as a missionary, and it’ll be easier to find them should you want to look back at old ones. For as long as I’ll be a missionary, I’ll be a pilgrim, so any and all mission updates from here on out will be named so.

The old convent of San Antonio de Padua parish, in Penasco NM. Now it’s home to a few cats, some pilgrim lodging, and an interesting old woman named Joyce, of whom I have heard many tales, but never met.

Two Chimayós - 95 miles total

My first trip of the season was a 50-mile trek to Chimayó with students from James Madison University, as well as their campus minister and one of their FOCUS missionaries. The group was fantastic. I really couldn’t have asked for better participants on my first trip. They were enthusiastic and already well on the way in terms of the spiritual life, and so were not only ready for a challenge physically, but spiritually as well.

The reality is that pilgrimage is tough, and it should be. The miles are exhausting, the weather doesn’t always cooperate, and the terrain can be difficult, all while you inevitably find yourself wrestling with God and/or yourself; assuming you properly open yourself up to the experience. It is, as I have been privileged to share with every group so far, exactly like your entire life. We are a pilgrim people. Life has an arc, a journey, and therefore a destination. The call of your whole life is to authentically and properly respond to that journey. You’re on it whether you like it or not, and in the case of a more physical, particular pilgrimage, you choose to be on it.

That’s what it was like for these JMU kids on the way to Chimayó, and they responded beautifully. They exceeded every practical goal I set for them (arrival time, tasks, mileage, etc) and accepted the spiritual challenge with grace. One of the pillars of the Creatio experience is “readiness to change,” and while that’s rarely something we want to hear, they responded with a genuine openness to reality as God gave it to them. Well-formed as they already were, I’m proud to say that they went home to Virginia with a deeper, broader, more incarnate experience of the Christian life, as well as a desire to share it with others. That’s the goal of every Creatio trip.

Or, as our new friend Seneca said it:

“Led by an amazing duo of missionaries, I spent the past four days growing deeper in my faith and closer with my friends, being physically demanded in a way I've never been before, and getting to actually enter into the physical aspect of the cross, which helped me better understand the depth of love Jesus had for us while heroically taking on suffering. I also had some of the best sleep of my life on the floors of different churches. If I'm looking for some rest, relaxation, and redemptive suffering, I'm coming for Creatio.”

JMU participants pray together before setting off on what is, in my opinion, the most mentally challenging day of the Chimayó pilgrimage; a beautiful yet exhausting 18 miles over rolling hills from Penasco to Truchas.

The second trip was another Chimayó, this time with a mix-matched young adult group from a parish in Arizona. This group was different. They didn’t all know each other very well, and while almost everyone was enthusiastic for and open to a deeper spiritual life, they were coming from quite different places. We (my boss Chris and I) also had very little time to prep for the trip, so there was a bit of stress going into it. I’m happy to say it all went very well though, despite a bit of a rocky start.

I appreciated my time with all the participants on that trip, but I think it best to highlight one specifically; the parish priest. He seemed to have a deeper spiritual experience on the way than anyone else I walked alongside and took the sore feet and aching legs in stride each day. He struggled a lot, since by his own admission he is not in great shape, but each night when we all sat down to talk about our day he was deeply grateful for that struggle and difficulty on such an intense pilgrimage, and was constantly reflecting on the reality of Christian suffering as well as the prayers, hopes, and needs of his parishioners that he promised to carry on the way. He was, with every step, exactly what a priest should be; a patient and persistent servant of the Lord, ready and willing to suffer and struggle for the good of his flock. He didn’t complain once, meanwhile, I complain plenty, even though I do this walk all the time. It was incredibly admirable, and I’m grateful to have known him, even if only for a few days. God, please give us more holy priests like him.

A brief stop to rest and catch our breath before pushing on the last few miles to Truchas. Much of our route over the first 2 days of the pilgrimage is through Carson National Forest.

We arrived at Chimayó on Palm Sunday, which was a blessing despite the rain and snow on the way there. One of the most treasured local traditions is the annual Holy Week pilgrimage each Good Friday. We were a few days early for that, but Palm Sunday is a beautiful Mass, so it was wonderful to be there for the beginning of that most important week. I was told there’d be a donkey for the occasion, but alas, the weather was bad, and the donkey was “under the weather,” so I was a bit disappointed. Maybe next year.

Fr Sebastian, the pastor of the Santuario, sprinkles holy water among the palms before the procession starts its loop around the shrine.

What’s Next?

I’ve actually got a bit of a break for the next week and a half. Then, after I get bored sitting in the office for that long, we missionaries will head over to Utah for a week of outdoor leadership training with COR (a very cool organization that also runs Catholic backcountry trips.) From what I can tell, it’ll be a tough week working on various outdoor skills, including our wilderness medical training. My plan is to set my comfort expectations as low as possible so that I end up having a great time anyway. If I tell myself I’ll be cold and tired the whole time, I’ll be less upset when it actually happens. Hopefully that works. It usually does.

From the road on the way down to Chimayó. The last day of the pilgrimage is usually the easiest day since it’s just a quick 9-mile cruise down the hill to the Santuario. I think it feels something like a highway through the sky since the road is on top of a ridge the whole way down.

I hope you’re all doing well, and had a beautiful and joyful Easter. I was blessed to have an incredibly rich Triduum this year, which filled my Easter with a kind of joy only the resurrected Christ can give. I pray He gives it to you all too as the octave continues. In the meantime, pray for me and the Creatio team as the season gets busier. We’re praying for you every day.

in statu viae

Ryan

El Santuario de Chimayó, quiet and empty on a weekday morning.