Pilgrimage For Life
There are three things I remember most from the Pilgrimage for Life: spiritual growth, hospitality and extremely cold toes.
The cold toes part seems to be the usual during the Pilgrimage for Life, and it would be silly to expect anything less from an overnight bus trip to and from Washington, D.C., in the middle of the winter, with lots of walking and standing in the cold. I had decided, in all my brilliance, to wear a recently purchased pair of rain boots on the trip. I figured they would be automatically waterproof and snow-proof, in case of precipitation, and that a pair or two of fuzzy socks would be enough to keep me warm. Boy, was I wrong.
We were dropped off on the morning of the March, and it didn’t take more than an hour or two of standing on the frozen ground before my feet were beginning to go numb, even despite the hand-warmers I’d stuck down into my boots. By the time we’d finished walking the route at the end of the day, my ankles were numb, as were the rest of my feet. I wondered what the signs of frostbite were, and I was trying to think of a way to explain to Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry Steve Dabrowski that I might have to have a few toes removed.
Luckily, when we got back onto the bus I discovered that my toes weren’t blue, but just a bright pink; and within an hour, they had returned to normal sensation and function. After a long day in the cold, we made our way back to our host parish for a hot supper. Something would be missing in this article if I didn’t make a mention of that parish’s hospitality.
For the past few years, our diocese has partnered with the wonderful St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish, and they have provided everything we need on our pilgrimage – hot meals, a church and Mass, to-go bags of snacks, and even cell phone charging stations … all offered with a smile and a kind word. I can’t wait to go back there because it’s almost like a home away from home for a few days. They are the face of Christ to us, providing hospitality and love without thinking twice.
Looking over my writings from last year, there’s one theme that comes to mind: dignity of the individual. At Marian University, where I go to school, we spend a lot of time talking about our four Franciscan sponsorship values. The value Dignity of the Individual is the first one on the list, and I think it’s really applicable to the Pilgrimage for Life.
Although a good part of the focus of the March for Life is to end abortion, as we participate in the larger Pilgrimage for Life with our diocesan community, it’s important to realize that we are all called to work for the dignity of all human persons, from conception to natural death. This covers topics like euthanasia and the death penalty – but who’s to say that it can’t cover things like hunger and poverty, abuse and loneliness? In what ways are we, as Catholics and as fellow human beings, working to relieve suffering and help others recognize and bear their God-given dignity in whatever ways we can, both big and small, far away and in our very homes?
I’ll be on the Pilgrimage for Life again this year, and I’m really excited to be writing for The Message. It is my hope that this year, more and more people come to recognize human dignity and to learn to be in a partnership with the larger human family, to strengthen each other and build each other up, working always towards Christ.
If you can’t come on the Pilgrimage with us in person, I hope that you join us in prayer and in keeping informed. If you are coming along on the Pilgrimage, I’m excited to see you! A word of advice – wear warm and comfortable shoes. You won’t be sorry.
Anna Bittner is a regular contributor to The Message.
