Sts. Nunilo and Alodia, pray for us!
There has been another attack in Nigeria by Muslim suicide bomber on a Catholic church. 4 DEAD.
Coming to a neighborhood near you… though it will probably be a different set of activists before these other killers get around to it.
Sts. Nunilo and Alodia, pray for us!
What times we are in!
More and more I have a desire to go to Navarre and venerate their relics and then go on with the Camino to Santiago de Compostela.
Some years ago, an dyspepsic old Italian bishop, irritated with the gabbling of the bishops gathered in a plenary of their conference, stepped outside the Paul VI audience hall, where I was waiting to meet someone.
“Less chatter and more processions!”, quoth he.
I will add “More pilgrimages”.
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You should definitely do the Camino! I walked it from Roncesvalles in 2004 (it takes about 5 weeks) and have gone back once to work as an hospitalera in an albergue (a pilgrim refuge).
The Martin Sheen film “The Way” is pretty accurate, and people walk it for all sorts of reasons, so it’s what you make of it. But no matter what, you learn from it. They say you will always see the Devil on the Camino. I have also heard that you will see him three times under different guises (which I did). It is a test and changes many lives.
“…Camino to Santiago de Compostela”.
I have been fantasizing about doing that ever since seeing the recent film “The Way”.
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The Camino exerts a certain fascination on me as well. I had not even heard of it a year ago, and then suddenly it seems to be everywhere!
When my wife first brought up the idea of doing this for her fiftieth birthday, I thought the whole thing an impossible idea. The more I read about it, and the more I read the writings of those who had done it, the more plausible it became. The film “The Way” may have been the nail in the coffin of my resistance to the idea of walking the Camino.
Whenever we finally go, perhaps we shall meet you on the road.
Once more Mother of Perpetual Help.
Regina Martyrum
Ora Pro Nobis
Father Z, have you ever lead a pilgramage? I think you would get a great response and being the leader that would defer some costs.
Thank you for this post Father. I agree with you about where this might be going–and I am praying..
“They say you will always see the Devil on the Camino.”
Heck, I’m pretty sure I’ve run into the accuser a few times over here in the American “Midwest”. I’ve learned the hard way that it’s best not to make much of him, though — not to dismiss him entirely or just ignore him (especially not you priests, whether you’re the designated exorcist or not), but to focus less on him than on Christ and one’s own holiness. If this pilgrimage helps with that, then I would heartily recommend it based on that alone, not knowing much else.
“Coming to a neighborhood near you.” Are you actually saying that you think suicide bombers are going to be attacking Catholic churches in America soon? Who are these potential attackers? [Whom do you think?]
A commenter on the American Catholic from there spoke of this occuring on Christmas after Mass had ended. Not as a car bomb though – it sounded like snipers. I don’t know whether it’s me, but it seems like the phrases we used to hear in hyperbole – all Hell is breaking lose- or – like Hell on roller skates – have become no exaggeration.
I wonder if there will be an apology or a condemnation from Potus? Yea, right, it’s a Catholic Church!
I have thought about walking the Camino, as well, doing the French Way from St. Jean Pied de Port. I would love to venerate the relics of Saints Nunilo and Alodia on the way. I know that the French Way passes through Navarre and I see references to the relics being in the abbey of St. Saviour of Leger, but I cannot find the abbey itself with Google. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
Something else to think about with Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and Easter coming up, unfortunately.
A massive bomb plot on a Catholic cathedral for Easter was foiled in Indonesia last year; there has been the All Saints’ eve massacre in Baghdad (the irony of the occasion was probably lost on the attackers), and there was the New Year’s bombing in Alexandria. Boko Haram struck on Christmas in Nigeria as well.
It’s never too soon to start praying for a safe Easter, and to remember the persecuted Church in general. That, indeed, is one of Pope Benedict XVI’s intentions for March
http://www.apostleshipofprayer.org/2012english.html
Islam, which Potus would have us believe is a religion of peace and tolerance, is a political ideology more than anything else. Under the guise of a religion (and of course the USA can’t discriminate against religion–unless of course it is Catholicism) it is making inroads into this once Judeo Christian nation. You would think we might look to Europe and to Australia which now regret allowing a near Muslim takeover and figure out what is in store for us…but no, and we won’t as long as a Muslim apologist (practitioner?) occupies the White House.
I suspect that the failure to teach world history in our schools for the past 40 years has led to at least one generation that fails to understand the history of Islam and the battles that had to be waged to keep it from making Christianity extinct. Of course today’s hard core Muslims must be a kinder and more gentle sort…not!
Father:
It is time to offer “Less Chatter More Processions” swag from your store!
Semper Fi!
I’m too poor to go on a pilgrimage outside the US. Anyone know of a place IN the US I could go?
@ ipadre: ‘I wonder if there will be an apology or a condemnation from Potus?’
My answer to that is, ‘Nah, Nix, Nada’. And for the very reason you stated-it’s a Catholic church.
He’s a big hypocrite, anyway….
Denita, how about the shrine of Our Lady of Champion (aka Our Lady of Good Help) just outside Green Bay, WI? Mary appeared there the year after she visited Bernadette in Lourdes & there have been quite a few miracles associated with it (including the fact that the site was spared from the greatest forest fire in recorded US history). It was only declared “worthy of belief” in 2010, so it is still relatively unknown (uncrowded) & Door County is beautiful, especially in the spring & fall.
@fatherz: May I please go along too Father? Could you run one of those group trip packages?
The US has many beautiful and holy shrines and pilgrimage places. If you run a search with terms like “shrine”, “Catholic”, and the name of a state, you’ll find good stuff.
You can also look up the lives of various North American saints, blesseds, venerables, etc., and go visit places associated with their holy lives.
Camino? Some time ago a fellow in Spain contacted me about organizing a softer version of the Camino.
I’ve been giving this a little thought.
I think I’d like to do a sort of fake Camino first, with car or bus, so as to see a lot of the places along the route, so that when I do the Camino, I won’t be frustrated that I can’t see them.
@Denita:
This site offers some good suggestions:
http://www.holypilgrim.us/
For my own part, I’m making a pilgrimage to EWTN in Alabama next month, and later in the year to the Shrine of the North American Jesuit Martyrs in Auriesville.