Spring Break

As a modern Catholic, I am not as familiar with the concept of a pilgrimage as earlier generations of the faithful were. Growing up, I never heard stories about pilgrimages taken by relatives or family friends. I hardly knew anything about them beyond their basic definition, and I have to confess that Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales was the only account of a pilgrimage that I had heard before undertaking one of my own.
Despite my limited knowledge about pilgrimages, I signed up to make one over my spring break this year. Instead of traveling south to enjoy some warm beach weather, I traveled north to snowy Canada. Fifty other students from the University of Notre Dame, Holy Cross College, and Saint Mary’s College journeyed with me to St Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal, Canada.
St Joseph’s Oratory is a quite popular pilgrimage destination, receiving over two million visitors every year. It is the resting place of St Andrè Bessette (1845-1937), who was a Brother in the Congregation of Holy Cross. Brother Andrè was a tremendous healer who miraculously cured countless people. St Andrè had a very strong devotion to St Joseph, and he built the Oratory as a place where people could go to seek the intercession of St Joseph.
My fellow pilgrims and I brought personal intentions with us on our journey to St Joseph’s Oratory. We prayed that St Joseph and St Andrè would intercede with God on our behalf, and that our intentions would be answered. The pilgrimage was a very spiritual time for all of us. Together we prayed the Divine Office, attended daily Mass, and prayed a novena to St Joseph.
I had expected that this kind of prayer would be an integral part of the pilgrimage. However there was another facet of the pilgrimage that I had not expected. The sense of community I felt with the other students was incredibly powerful. In them I recognized strong faith and an intense desire for holiness. The fellowship we shared coupled with the prayer made the pilgrimage an experience that I will always remember.
Prayer and community are the very same tenets that make the Catholic Church what it is. Our pilgrimage was a small-scale model of Christ’s Church. Each of us individually strove to grow closer to God, but we also grew in holiness because of the fellowship we shared.
I could not be happier that I decided to forgo the sunny beaches for a pilgrimage into the unknown. It was spiritually revitalizing and a great reminder that we are all part of Christ’s Pilgrim Church journeying toward heaven together.

In Holy Cross,

Dan Cruickshank