October 11, 2006

Indianapolis International Airport

By Sean Gallagher

Indianapolis International Airport10:00 a.m.—One of three waves of pilgrims from the archdiocese is gathering for the flight to Newark, NJ and then on to Rome.  It’s a gray, dreary and rainy day in Indianapolis but excitement seems to be in the hearts and minds of the pilgrims as they look forward to a sunny landing in Italy and ultimately to the canonization of Indiana’s first saint.

Pilgrimages, though, are ambivalent affairs.  While there are many opportunities for spiritual enrichment—this one featuring the canonization of Blessed Mother Theodore Guérin in St. Peter’s Square—there are also crosses to bear through the voyage.  The first one that many of us will face will be a very long day of traveling—nearly 17 hours in all to get to Rome (once one takes into account time changes)—and then another bus ride through the Compagna north of Rome and through the hills of Tuscany to arrive at our final destination in Siena where we will spend one night.

Many pilgrims are also leaving behind many friends and relatives.  My wife, who is accompanying me on this pilgrimage, and I are leaving our young boys in the good care of our parents—not an easy thing to do for parents of small children.

This mixed nature of pilgrimages thus mirrors the overall life of faith where God blesses us with many consolations while we respond to Christ’s call to pick up our crosses daily and follow him.

A note about this blog.  While traveling to Italy, I will have more time to make posts and will do so.  Once in Italy, I will continue to post accounts of the pilgrimage as well as photos.  However, I probably won’t be doing them throughout the day (as I can when I’m traveling) since there will be many other activities to attend to.

Posted by Sean Gallagher at 1:08 p.m. on Thursday, October 12, 2006

 

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