13 August 2013
Tuesday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
This summer I participated in MAGIS, a ten-day experience for pilgrims from Jesuit schools and youth groups that takes place immediately prior to World Youth Day. Our group of thirty or so undertook a fifty-five-kilometer journey over the course of three days from the town of Santa Luzia to a Marian shrine atop a tall peak. As we climbed ever upward, I frequently said to myself, “I’m too old for this” (though “too out of shape” would have been more accurate). People faltered along the way, which made us band together and offered many opportunities to forget about our own struggles.
Around noon on the third day, we at last arrived at the shrine, which offered one of the most spectacular views I have ever seen. We spent an hour in silent prayer looking out over God’s creation and giving thanks to our Lady for one another and for the successful completion of the pilgrimage.