Pilgrims & Progress
I grew up surrounded by books, and even today I often picture myself as the leading character in a childhood classic from the very early years before big words or complex plots. One such character is the peddler in Caps for Sale. I don’t remember much of the story, but I do recall that the peddler would wear all of his hats on his head at one time until some mischievous monkeys got in the mix.
These days, I too wear a lot of hats. Sometimes, they all seem to be on my head at once; sometimes I am juggling them (more skillfully in my imagination than in real life); sometimes I wish that mischievous monkeys would come and steal a few of them from me.
One of my newest hats, one that I am in fact delighted to wear, is that of pilgrimage leader. This past spring I was invited to lead my first pilgrimage “in the footsteps of St. Paul” through Ancient Greece and Ephesus. (Spoiler alert: I am going again this spring and you’re invited to join me there!)
To be honest, I never imagined myself as St. Paul; I am much more like St. Peter (as seen here and here and here and here). I get exhausted just thinking about all that St. Paul accomplished, and what he boasts of, I don’t envy.
…Far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near death. Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked. And, besides other things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches. (2 Corinthians 11:23-8, RSVCE)
Even His first encounter with Jesus was a bit rough. (I think he’s the only one who meets Jesus and then needs to be healed…) Though surely Paul did “count it all joy” knowing that the rewards were surely worth it.
Yet traveling in his footsteps if nothing else I found many things to envy. Greece is spectacularly beautiful as well historically fascinating. On the pilgrimage we all found ourselves using some time-worn cliches—the New Testament really did “come alive” and our experiences were in fact deeply impactful and “life changing.” So much so that I committed to leading one again this coming April, as well as a separate pilgrimage to Portugal’s Madeira Island, Fatima and Lisbon in the Fall.
I’ll let you visit the web page to learn about all the sites that we saw and will see. A few of my favorites included:
- Celebrating Mass in the river where Lydia was baptized. That is not a typo—there is an outdoor chapel built in the river so that we could celebrate the Lord’s Supper surrounded by the flowing waters. Other outdoor altars included the ruins in Corinth and in other places where Paul actually preached.
- We visited other ruins of places Paul preached or to whom he wrote the Letters we hear at Mass: Phillipi, Corinth, Ephesus etc. Thessaloniki and Athens are of course still cities today. We saw Paul’s prison in Phillipi. In Athens, while visiting what remains of the Temples to the Greek gods, we stood on the very rock from which Paul preached to the Athenians—who were not initially particularly receptive. This “failure,” however, marked a pivotal change in Paul’s preaching style, who learned instead of “wisdom” to depend on the power of the Holy Spirit and the message “of Christ crucified.”
- Cruise and pilgrimage are not typically synonymous, but our pilgrimage included a four-day cruise through the beautiful Aegean. We visited famous Greek islands including Mykonos and Santorini, but my own favorites were Patmos and Ephesus, John the Apostle was exiled to Patmos, and we visited the very cave where he wrote the book of Revelation. In Ephesus, we saw where Paul preached, but especially the home of Our Lady when she lived with St. John there. (It was here, at the Council of Ephesus in 431, that Mary was definitively proclaimed as Mother of God. This was celebrated with a joyful riot, in contrast with the riots St. Paul experienced in Ephesus).
- Two other favorite places include Nafpaktos on the Gulf of Patros, (formerly the Gulf of Lepanto), site of the famous battle that saved Christian Europe, and then Metorea, known for its monasteries improbably built into the sides of cliffs.
I would joyfully welcome you to join me on this pilgrimage next spring! Feel free to check out the web page or give the Syversen Touring office a call (if you’re lucky, you might even catch me there in my office assistant hat).
In the meantime I will soon be publishing some special rosary meditations that I composed while on pilgrimage, as well as some other new writing for this new (liturgical) year, along some updates on a few of my other hats.
Until then, borrowing from the words of St. Paul, may the peace of Christ which surpasses all understanding, be with you always.
Pilgrimage Links:
Ancient Greece and Ephesus April 28th-May 9th, 2025
Portugal’s Madeira Island, Fatima & Lisbon October 6th-15th, 2025
A few photos from our 2024 pilgrimage:
Bumper Cars: Let Him Drive
