Shalom! Our group embarked upon the journey this past Tuesday, and we brought all of you with us in prayer; please pray for us, for safe travels and a fruitful pilgrimage. Pilgrimage is such a beautiful and enriching experience of Faith, as we journey beyond ourselves to have an encounter with the living God in a new and exciting way, giving concrete reminder that we are all pilgrims journeying to our heavenly homeland, and that “the world is our ship and not our home” (St. Therese of Lisieux). A pilgrimage to the Holy Land is a powerful experience, because it brings to life so much of the story of our Savior’s life on earth. There are almost fifty of us over here and we are excited to return on the 15th and share with you the gifts of grace we receive while here.
Since Pope Paul VI first used the term, our Holy Fathers have been referring to the Holy Land as the “Fifth Gospel”, a kind of environmental Gospel where the words of Scripture come to life and continue to teach and form us. In his papal exhortation on the Word of God, Pope Benedict describes the power of the Fifth Gospel in this way:
“As we call to mind the Word of God who became flesh in the womb of Mary of Nazareth, our heart now turns to the land where the mystery of our salvation was accomplished, and from which the word of God spread to the ends of the earth. By the power of the Holy Spirit, the Word became flesh in a specific time and place, in a strip of land on the edges of the Roman Empire. The more we appreciate the universality and the uniqueness of Christ’s person, the more we look with gratitude to that land where Jesus was born, where he lived and where he gave his life for us. The stones on which our Redeemer walked are still charged with his memory and continue to “cry out” the Good News. For this reason, [we speak] of the Holy Land as “the Fifth Gospel”. How important it is that in those places there be Christian communities, notwithstanding any number of hardships! The bishops express profound closeness to all those Christians who dwell in the land of Jesus and bear witness to their faith in the Risen One…
The Holy Land today remains a goal of pilgrimage for the Christian people, a place of prayer and penance, as was testified to in antiquity by authors like Saint Jerome. The more we turn our eyes and our hearts to the earthly Jerusalem, the more will our yearning be kindled for the heavenly Jerusalem, the true goal of every pilgrimage, along with our eager desire that the name of Jesus, the one name which brings salvation, may be acknowledged by all (cf. Acts 4:12)” (Verbum Domini, 89).
What a gift that our God is the God who comes close, who chose to not only walk among us but to become one in nature with us, so that we could encounter Him alive and in the flesh, which we continue to do with each Eucharist.
Speaking of encountering Him alive and in the flesh in the Eucharist, this week we launch our perpetual adoration chapel at Saint Wendelin! This is such an exciting time for our parish family, and I pray we can all see this as the gift and wonder of God’s grace that it really is; this is a sign of new life, a sign of God’s continued work in our Saint Henry Parish Family. We have more than doubled the number of parishioners praying before the Blessed Sacrament in a communal act of unceasing prayer, and I am heartily grateful to all of you and to God for accomplishing this in us. As we lean into this project of prayer and our mission to adore the Lord in the Most Holy Eucharist (in anticipation of the adoration that will define our Heaven), I want to invite all who would like to develop their life of prayer to join the parish for a 6-week seminar on prayer and the Christian life. Beginning on September 7th, on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of the month until November 16th, Julia Monnin will lead “An Intimate Sharing between Friends” in the St. Henry Church Basement. During this course, Julia will guide us through the fourth section of the Catechism and share what the Catholic Church has to teach us about prayer (spoiler alert: she has a lot to teach us!). Please prayerfully consider joining; you won’t be disappointed. May God bless you in the week ahead and may Mother Mary lead you more deeply into the Sacred and Merciful Heart of Jesus. I remain,
Affectionately Yours in Christ,
Fr. Hess
