Happy Belated Thanksgiving to everyone! :-)
I couldn't find the book I had been blogging about, and I couldn't find the time to blog, so my blog had pretty much died . . .
Now I finally found the book (in our spare bedroom, otherwise know as The Library, of all places!), but I thought I'd post 2 essays I wrote while in college. Notice how they both end the same way - I guess I wasn't above re-using material for different assignments / classes!
This first one is from the World Youth Day event in Colorado.
I like this one more than the second one. :-)
Pilgrimage: a journey to a sacred place for reasons of cultic celebration, penance, and/or devotion (definition mine).
Have you ever had a hierophonic experience? One in which your total biorhythmic, ectotheric, psycho-spiritual, holistic mode of being was in some way transformed, transmogrified (to quote Calvin), and/or cosmogenized? Such an experience was offered to a lowly grasshopper as myself when I serendipitously discovered that I would be one of many to make the long pilgrimage to bask in the Presence of the Sacred One, as mediated through the Servant of Servants, the Pope. After much financial difficulty, much praying, much agonizing (both individual and communal) and certainly much anticipating, we were off.
We were a small band of eight, representing several universities individually and the NCSC team collectively. The drive over there was pilgrimage enough (22 hours!), but being led as the Israelites were in the desert, we made it.
Once there we were gifted with our sanctum sanctorum, the apartment of friend and Lake alumni Dee Messersmith. From this center we daily went out to do battle with the (gasp!) thousands of other pilgrims and natives who were also on the road.
However, all our difficulties were as nothing compared to the fun we experienced! There was music (Michael W. Smith, John Michael Talbot, DC Talk, The Newsboys, Wynona Judd, and more!), speakers from all over the world, people from all over the world, and, of course, the main man himself, Pope John Paul II, live and in the Spirit.
While John Paul was never larger than my thumb, huge video screens gave us a closer look at him. His messages were clear and to the point, leveling the harshest criticism at the materialistic attitude of the West. Still, it wasn't so much his speeches that got to you: it was his presence. Even at the distance I was at, it was apparent that here was a man of great personal holiness and spirituality. His love for us all was clearly evident, and the Presence of the Spirit made the camp grounds where we were at burn with the life of God: we were on holy ground.
I came back from that trip refreshed, renewed, and inspired to greater depths of spirituality. St. Paul, in one of his letters, challenged us to imitate him as he imitated Christ. In the person of John Paul we hear intimations of that same challenge: follow me as I follow Christ; imitate me as I imitate Christ; live a life of simplicity, of trust, of compassion, of intimacy, of integrity, even as I do, even as Christ did; take up your cross; lay down your life; forgive those who have hurt you; love those who you despise or who despise you; transcend yourself, and in so doing become one with the Infinite.
His challenge calls out to all people everywhere . . .
This one was written after a week-long trip to Rome.
A few things stand out from the Rome pilgrimage to pass on the World Youth Day cross to the young people from the Philippines. Come to think of it, pilgrimage definitely sums up the heart of the experience that I was a part of during this past week. Now, Pilgrimage can be defined as a journey towards a particular sacred time/space for reasons of dramaturgical celebration, penance, and/or devotion.
The sacred space was, of course, Rome. Seat of the head of the Latin Rite, Western Roman Catholic church. We had three separate encounters with Pope John Paul II, each one giving us an insight into the kind of person he is. Our first encounter with him was at an audience he was holding with young people from Italy which we attended. He gave an extemporaneous homily which garnered enthusiastic responses from the audience. He came across as someone genuinely concerned with the fate of the young people in Italy and in the whole world.
A more intimate encounter happened Saturday morning, when we were invited to John Paul's personal chapel for a private Mass. He was the primary celebrant, and the whole liturgy was done in English (a concession, no doubt, to us as American delegates and to the Filipino delegates). He gave no homily, but his presence spoke eloquently of his dedication to prayer; it was apparent to all that we were in the presence of a man of great personal holiness and spirituality. His love for us all was clearly evident, and the Presence of the Spirit made the chapel where we were at burn with the life of God: we were on holy ground.
Finally, there was the Palm Sunday Mass, which would definitely constitute the sacred time we went to go experience. Here were 200,000 people all celebrating the triumphant entry into Jerusalem, even as we were celebrating the fact that the WYD experience would now be triumphantly entering another phase of its life. At the same time, however, the majority of us felt saddened; we felt, inexplicably, a loss. This emotion was incarnated when we handed over the WYD cross to the Filipino young people. All of the work put into this, all of the experiences shared: it was almost as of we were losing them. The tours, the preparation, the food, the whole Rome experience: it all paled before this testament of faith, hope, and love that we were passing, as it were, from one community to another. Many of the feelings that coalesced at that moment, and upon seeing the Holy Father walk up to us and speak with us a moment, are indescribable.
I came back from that trip refreshed, renewed, and inspired to greater depths of spirituality. St. Paul, in one of his letters, challenged us to imitate him as he imitated Christ. In the person of John Paul we hear intimations of that same challenge: follow me as I follow Christ; imitate me as I imitate Christ; live a life of simplicity, of trust, of compassion, of intimacy, of integrity, even as I do, even as Christ did; take up your cross; lay down your life; forgive those who have hurt you; love those who you despise or who despise you; transcend yourself, and in so doing become one with the Infinite.
Blessings & Peace,
Hugo
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