A Pilgrimage for Life

A reflection on my pilgrimage with Assumption Parish, Peekskill, NY to the 2016 March for Life, Washington D.C.

It has been a wonderful blessing to be able to attend the annual March for Life down in Washington D.C. four out of the last five years. My first pilgrimage was in 2012 with the Siena for Life Club out of Siena College, my alma mater. Since then I have made the trip with OFM’s and Capuchin Friars, with large groups and small groups and each year I attend I leave with a greater appreciation for life, how precious and beautiful it is, and how many courageous and faithful witnesses there are in this noble and pressing cause. The pro-life movement is the pre-eminent civil rights movement of our time...maybe of all time! This year I had the pleasure of attending the March for Life with the Church of the Assumption in Peekskill, NY. I want to thank Fr. John Higgins, the pastor of Assumption and Fr. Vincent Druding, the parochial vicar, for allowing me to embark on the journey with the parish community.

Our pilgrimage began at the Church of the Assumption. There would be a little less than thirty of us making the Thursday trip to attend the the pro-life concert “Life is Very Good” put on by the Diocese of Arlington. We had a good mix of boys and girls/men and women among our contingent.. We began the day with Eucharistic adoration and confessions while reciting the Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. Following benediction we assisted at holy Mass. What an awesome way to begin a pilgrimage! Being the Feast of St. Agnes, the homily was very pertinent to idea of a Christ-centered culture of life as opposed to our modern, secular culture of death. I brought with me a first class relic of St. Maria Goretti who, in many ways, is a more modern St. Agnes. Both were called to give the highest form of witness to Jesus in martyrdom and both martyrdoms concerned the maintaining of purity and chastity. Fr. offered an opportunity to reverence the relic after Mass and I took the relic with me on the journey down to DC.

Adoration, Confession, holy Mass and the reception of Holy Communion; what generosity the Lord has for us His servants! Witnessing to life we became tabernacles of the author of life; surely there is no better way to give this witness than praying the ultimate prayer (holy Mass) and receiving God Himself in Holy Communion.

Fr. Vincent made sure that the entirety of the trip was rooted in prayer, especially prayer for the unborn and all victims of abortion. Both legs of the trip revolved around the Angelus at noon and 6 pm, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, the Divine Office and edifying movies.

The concert was held on the campus of George Mason University and was well-attended but it was evident that the anticipated blizzard led to a lot of cancellations. Although I am not an avid ‘praise and worship’ man, the night featured a nice talk by a lay evangelist and after, exposition and benediction presided over by the Bishop of Arlington. What a privilege to begin and end the day adoring Our Lord! It is a good day when it begins and ends with exposition and benediction! After the concert we took up quarter at St. Elizabeth’s school in Rockville, MD. We stayed on a classroom floor and considering I did not even bring a sleeping bag it was a rather uncomfortable night for me. That being said, I used the opportunity to offer some discomfort up for the unborn and victims of abortion. We woke up bright an early to a hearty, warm breakfast courtesy of the St. Elizabeth community and the local Knights of Columbus. It was nice to interact with some of the other pilgrims who were staying at the school (that they came all the way from Iowa and didn’t cancel despite the anticipated apocalyptic storm was very inspiring!). After offering up a beautiful Rosary in the church we drove to the Church of the Little Flower about 15 minutes from St. Elizabeth’s for holy Mass presided over by His Eminence Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York. Cardinal Dolan wanted to offer Mass especially for New York pilgrims and tickets were needed for admittance. The Mass was quite beautiful and although not as heavily attended as expected because of the blizzard, it was a sight to behold nonetheless because of the seminarians and Sisters of Life who were in attendance and also composed the schola.

Cardinal Dolan was cordial as usual and his homily left me with much to reflect on. The cause for life is a spiritual cause, a Gospel cause and may we never forget that! He mentioned how the we must become small as Our Lord became small at Bethlehem, as a 10-week old baby is small in the womb. We must become small because the smaller we are, the humbler we are and the humbler we are the more room there is for God in our hearts to use us as He sees fit. God uses the small and the vulnerable, the humble and the broken; God uses that vulnerability and smallness to accomplish great things for His glory. I think about the Eucharist and how Our Lord appears as a humble piece of bread, broken on the altar and given to His starving flock. Our God is great and awesome.

Although the march was visibly lighter than in previous years (last year it was nearly impossible to walk in any direction!) there were still thousands of enthusiastic and joyful participants. Our group tailed the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal who led our contingent in the holy Rosary; what a great way to maintain the pilgrim atmosphere! It was so powerful to see the difference in the thousands of pro-life participants in joyful and thoughtful prayer compared with the 30-50 or so pro-abortion advocates in front of the U.S. Supreme Court who were spewing such vile and hateful vitriol. I commented to Fr. Vincent about how different each side was, how different it is to affirm something as opposed to simply being against something. How unnerving it was to see the hate in those poor people. What an important reminder to Christians about the importance of being authentic, joyful witnesses to the Faith as opposed to being angry and hateful; we can learn much from our Holy Father Pope Francis in this regard. May we always keep Christ at the center of our outlook on life-issues and recognize the brokenness and hurt that stems from many on the other side of the coin; we are dealing with real people and all demand our love and compassion.

Concerning the apocalyptic blizzard; the snow held out until the very end for us! As we drove out of D.C. by 2 pm we hit some flurries but we eventually got ahead of the storm and hit no traffic because government offices had closed and many would-be pilgrims had to cancel. All worked for the greater glory of God in the end. He is so generous to all of us no matter our imperfections and regardless of our mistakes. The smooth ride home allowed for thoughtful reflection and prayers of thanksgiving. Thank you, Jesus.