Ite Ad Joseph. “Go To Joseph.” Literally.
The foster father of Our Lord, St. Joseph, famously doesn’t have a single word recorded in scripture. Yet, devotion to him is an ancient tradition within the Church. “Ite ad Joseph” goes the old saying. Go to Joseph. In particular, we men should heed this advice. Go to Joseph in times of trial. Go to Joseph for guidance. Go to Joseph in humi...
“It’s Not the Years, Honey. It’s the Mileage”
These infamous words of Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark epitomize how a pilgrimage is truly a microcosmic slice of life’s spiritual journey, a distilled process of the joys and sufferings in the everyday encounters with fellow travelers through the stories portrayed in the flashback scenes of the movie of our lives, symbolizing how each ...
A Pilgrimage to the Holy Land Is a Way to Enhance the Virtues
If you're on the fence about a visit to the Holy Land, or if you've gone sometime in the past, here's some of the great benefits of a pilgrimage to the land of the Bible. When I went recently, our spiritual guide and priest, Fr. Benedict, said that we take a pilgrimage to grow in our faith; however, he added in his homily, it is also designed to...
October Pilgrimage to Paris and More (and Beer!)
When Bishop Barron visited Denver recently he spoke about having his world “rocked” by great beauty and truth as a teenager and lamented that many people have not had this experience. Are we even becoming immune to the power of beauty and truth? Ultimately Jesus rocked my world when I first came to Catholic school after I had been kicked out of...
Saints, Monks, and Beer: A Pilgrimage for the Ages
This October I’m leading my first pilgrimage. It will coincide with a book I have coming out, The Beer Option: A Catholic Guide to Beer and Culture, which will be published by Angelico. The pilgrimage aims at exploring Catholic culture in its fullness: great art and architecture, food and drink, religious life, and the saints. My wife, Anne, and ...
Day 91 Event: St. Joseph Pilgrimage in St. Louis
The Most Reverend Thomas Olmstead, Bishop of Phoenix, Arizona, made clear in Into the Breach, his prescient 2015 apostolic exhortation to men, that we are facing a very real battle in our world today. “[M]y sons and brothers in Christ: Men, do not hesitate to engage in the battle that is raging around you,” he writes. The letter is a roadmap of...
“Get Up!”: Spring Is the Time for Pilgrimage
“Get Up!” These are the words of the angel, given to St. Joseph to flee to Egypt (Mt 2:13). This was no ordinary flight, but a pilgrimage by which the Holy Family relived, recapitulated the Exodus of Israel. “Out of Egypt I have called my son.” Following St. Joseph, we too are called to go on pilgrimage, giving us the opportunity to rec...