Letting Go...

I knew it was going to be a memorable pilgrimage when on the first day in Madrid I was greeted with these words in a homily.

"This is not meant to be a vacation. This is meant to be a time to abandon yourself to the will of God."

For all you White Sox fans, I wanted to do my best Hawk Harrelson, "You can put it on the board YESSS!" Or I guess an extended "GGGOOOOLLLLL!!" would have worked as a better sports analogy considering the country we were in. I was deeply moved by this statement. I have heard it a thousand times and said it to people even more, but for some reason, this time it stung. How often do I really do that? How often do I wake up and completely give my day to the Lord and His holy will?

So this became my mantra for the week. I was going to enter into our pilgrimage abandoning myself to His will. And what a pilgrimage it was!

I was touched so deeply by the freedom in this act of letting go. Everyday I said, "Lord put the people in my path today who you want me to see." And everyday I was blown away by His providential timing. Literally everyday of my pilgrimage was filled with life-giving encounters with the greater Body of Christ that took place without a phone, without email or without the Bat Signal.

I saw a friend who was roaming around Spain for a month prior to the pilgrimage. I was in Mass one day praying, "Lord, if it be your will today, how about I run into Josh." Sure enough two hours later there he was. I ran into a friend who had been on my heart in prayer for months. I knew she was heading off the join the Sisters of Life soon and wanted to see her before she moved onto to this next great step in her life. I prayed and sure enough I saw her. Four times! And not to mention, I saw the Pope.

These were just a small sample of the greatness I experienced in God's great timing. A greatness that He called me to throughout my entire pilgrimage and a greatness He is calling me to now every single day of my life.