Life Lines

Follow the Holy Father on a Pilgrimage of Mercy

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Before Pope Francis ever announced the Holy Year of Mercy, before he set foot on American soil and spoke to us directly about this very topic, mercy seemed to be the hallmark of his papacy. From the first Holy Thursday foot-washing in the juvenile detention center to the embrace of the disfigured man in St. Peter’s Square to the movement —if not in dogma at least in tone—toward a more compassionate approach to everything controversial and complicated, from abortion to annulment to refugees, mercy was at the heart of it.

And yet for many of us, the Year of Mercy remains a mystery. What is it supposed to mean for each one of us? How are we to celebrate the Year of Mercy that officially begins on Dec. 8, but seems to be already under way as far as Pope Francis is concerned? I think a lot of that depends on how we view mercy in our own lives—the mercy we may or may not believe we deserve for wrongs committed and the mercy we may or may not be willing to pour out for others.

To help us along, Pope Francis has asked all Catholics to journey with him during this Year of Mercy, by making an actual pilgrimage, if possible, or at the very least a spiritual pilgrimage regardless of the geographical destination.

“This (Holy Year) is the opportune moment to change our lives!” the pope has said. “This is the time to allow our hearts to be touched!...May pilgrimage be an impetus to conversion.”

Pilgrimage, both exterior and interior, changes us. I’ve seen it up close every time I go on a spiritually focused journey, whether it’s to a shrine in my own diocese or to a basilica in Rome or Assisi. This May I will lead a Year of Mercy food and faith pilgrimage to Italy, beginning in Rome. My priest chaplain and I, along with our beloved Italian tour guide from last year’s trip, will lead pilgrims to the four major basilicas in Rome and through the Holy Doors that are open only during special jubilee years. From there, we will travel to the cities of some of our greatest saints: Francis and Clare in Assisi, Catherine in Siena, Dominic in Bologna, Anthony in Padua, with visits to many other lesser-known but much-beloved saints in between.

In bustling cities and throughout the Italian countryside, we will look for the mercy that Pope Francis beckons us to seek for ourselves and to offer to others. I am not sure what to expect when I walk through the Holy Doors with my fellow pilgrims in May. I know it won’t be some sort of magical moment, and yet I hope for a kind of mystical transformation, not because a door to a church has been opened, but because the door to my heart is no longer closed.

Pilgrimage does that to you. It pries open closed doors and lays bare our deepest longings as we face God in the unfamiliar terrain of a foreign country or perhaps in the darkest recesses of our own souls.

If you can’t join me on pilgrimage in May, I hope you’ll map out a Year of Mercy journey that will lead you through doors of mercy and down pathways of hope that will transform you one step at a time, even if you never leave the comfort of home. Travel light but go deep, whether you are with me on a flight bound for Italy or making an armchair pilgrimage that can take you just as far.   


Mary DeTurris Poust is a retreat leader, public speaker and author of six books on Catholic spirituality. Visit her at at: www.notstrictlyspiritual.com.

She will be leading a Food & Faith pilgrimage to Italy in May 15-26, 2016 to mark the Holy Year of Mercy. Information: www.YearofMercyPilgrimage.com.