Last May the St. Frances X. Cabrini Shrine was the launch point for the Manhattan leg of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage. The chapel was packed to overflowing with the faithful who took to the streets with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
On Tuesday three of the “perpetual pilgrims” returned to the Shrine to discuss their experiences during nearly three months on the road with the Blessed Sacrament. Fr. Roger Landry, Zoe Dongas, and Marina Fratelli each spoke with compelling faith about what it was like.
Marina was a new convert to Catholicism and began the pilgrimage just days after graduating from law school. For her, participating meant giving up the two months she had available to study for the bar exam. Zoe Dongas had to quit her job to become a pilgrim, because her employer would not allow her that much time off. Neither young woman regretted her decision in the slightest.
Fr. Landry spoke of the intensity of walking with the Blessed Sacrament mere inches from his face for six or eight hours a day. The end result: he can no longer live with just one holy hour a day.
The witness of these three pilgrims who traveled with Jesus in heat waves and in rain, in prisons and on boats, was exhilarating. It left us all inspired to step out boldly in faith to bring the Gospel to the world.