319 Miles To Go

Well, sixteen miles is a long way to walk! For at least a couple of months, my dog Rembrandt and I have worked our way up to daily walks totalling six to eight miles. We had hoped to get up to ten miles a day, but the many tasks surrounding the departure from the Church of St. Mary always seemed to eat away at our training regimen. By the way, despite rumors, Rembrandt is not along on the trip. Instead, he's vacationing in California where my brother Bob and his family (and their dog Jazmine and cat Tigger) are hosting him. For experienced walkers and for anyone with an ounce of math ability this comes as no surprise: there's a big difference between eight and sixteen miles! Paul Swadener, loyal helper in this month-long effort, gave me his pocket GPS and I was able to monitor the fact that I maintained a 2.5 mile per hour pace over the six and a half hours of walking. I felt good about that. Plus, at about the mid-point today I came upon at sign at a roadside church that said: "Help is just a prayer away." That's the precise moment when I remembered all of you praying for me and praying for 1st Way Life Center. Thank you.

We began the day at St. Mary, Star of the Sea parish in Astoria. Fr. Ken Sampson was gracious in welcoming us and put in a plug for the cause which I'm coming to realize is behind all of this. While I have talked and written about the professional transition under way and the desire for a retreat experience, today's journey left me quite convinced that supporting the efforts of 1st Way is really where my energy needs to be directed, and gladly so. Here's the promised link: first-way.org/

Although I trust that many of you will go find out more about 1st Way via the link, let me repeat that the way they help any woman distressed by an unplanned pregnancy and the way they remain dedicated to caring for young mothers and their children both inspire me. I won't beg you to support them, but at least give some prayerful thought to pledging me on this pilgrimage or mailing them a gift of your choosing. You can also contact them directly and see if they have any practicall needs that you can help them meet.

Fr. Ken allowed me to concelebrate the Mass at Star of the Sea as we celebrated the martyrdom of Saint Justin. The homily was, in part, about St. Justin's youthful search for a philosophy or "school of thought" which would allow him to ponder the big questions of life. While not yet a Christian, Justin happened upon a Christian man in Ephesus during a particularly bloody and viscious persecution of the Church. Justin was struck by the fact that the Christians had found "a way" to which they were so dedicated that they were willing to lay down their own lives. As we know now, it wasn't just a way, but The Way . . . of Christ himself. Saint Justin would later follow in the footsteps of all the earlier martyrs in dying for the faith and lead the way for all subsequent martyrs as well. I have to admit that the example of such heroism in the Church, from age to age, inspired me today when it would have been easy to give up and call it a day, well-short of sixteen miles. I have no claim to martyrdom, mind you, but I'm just saying that I'm grateful for the grace of the martyrs' inspiration as it came to mind several times today.

For those wondering, the scenic beauty today was occasionally breathtaking. Did you know that some coastal ponds have beautiful wild yellow irises growing up from patches of skunk cabbage? And, yes, skunk cabbage is so called because of its smell!

Some closing thoughts from one of my favorite Catholic authors, Thomas Merton:
"Life is this simple. We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and God is shining through all the time. This is not just a fable or a nice story. It is true. If we abandon ourselves to God and forget ourselves, we see it sometimes, and we see it maybe frequently. God shows himself everywhere, in everything -- in people and in things and in nature and in events. It becomes very obvious that God is everywhere and in everything and we cannot be without him; it's impossible." (Life and Solitude)

Point of departure,

St. Francis De Sales Catholic Church at Hammond