St. Francis Xavier is often depicted with his heart on fire, demonstrating the consuming love for Christ that drove his missionary efforts in which he claimed more that 30,000 souls for Christ through the saving waters of Baptism.
We woke up in the early hours of the morning with great expectation. We weren’t sure if it was going to happen or not.
Today our pilgrim group spent its first full day in Greece! The weather was dreary as we loaded the bus to visit the sites of Lydia’s baptism, described in the Acts of the Apostles, and ancient Philippi. Our new guides have given us a very warm welcome, despite the wintery weather of Europe. We drove through lush mountains and valleys filled with farms dotted with Greek flags and rain puddles.
Sometimes on pilgrimage, it is easy to overlook what is most important: Holy Mass. This is not intentional- it just happens. Mass is usually early in the morning, followed by a full day of traveling and site seeing. More than once, I’ve heard someone say, “That was this morning!?” when Mass is mentioned on the bus. Suffice to say, our days are jam packed with amazing experiences.
When we were boarding our flight in Chicago to start our pilgrimage, there was an American there who asked about my USML hat. When I told him it was for Mundelein Seminary, he asked if we were going to be priests. I then told him we were going on pilgrimage to follow St. Paul. He asked, “Who’s St. Paul?”