A wrap up on the trip

I drove from Virginia to Washington DC through Maryland, through Delaware, through New Jersey, upstate New York and Vermont, into Quebec, back through Vermont, through New Hampshire, through Massachusetts, into Rhode Island, up through Massachusetts, through Boston, into Maine, back through a slice of New Hampshire, back through Massachusetts, through Connecticut, New York, through the city, back down through New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and back to Virginia. It was a grueling 1700-mile trek over 5 days. The final leg, the return trip from Maine was 538 miles of crashes, construction, rain and other delays that turned what should have been an 8-hour trip into a 12-hour one. I haven't actually added it up but I'm guessing the gas and tolls alone were close to $300-$400.

If I had it to do all over again, I would.

A trip like this just helps you sort things out.

FILLING IN THE MAP

Like 80% of Americans, I am nauseated at the way Donald Trump attempted to turn America's 250th birthday into a monument to himself. I have decided to try and love our country by praying for it and seeing as much of it as I can. I have now been to 22 states and the District of Columbia with visits to at least 2 more (Texas and New Mexico) scheduled before the end of the year.

RHODE ISLAND

After having touched my crucifix to the tomb of Saint Andre Bessette, just one day prior, the experience of talking to a living descendent was incredible. However, the experience of the shrine itself was also amazing. The Shrine of Therese of Lisieux in Rhode Island is affiliated with the one in Damian, Illinois that I visited 6 months ago. The difference in weather couldn't have been more stark. The visit to the shrine in Damian was the coldest morning of my January trip and one of the coldest I have ever experienced in my life. The temperature was 0 degrees and the 'real feel' was -22. The visit was on a national holiday- Martin Luther King Jr day.

The visit to the shrine in Rhode Island was also a national holiday- Independence Day but the temperature was 95 degrees and with that Atlantic humidity, the ''real feel'' was likely well over 100.

Our Lady of Fatima. I was there in September.

I visited the gift shop and picked up 2 rosaries and a ''pray the rosary' bumper sticker before I began walking the grounds. There were multiple depictions of famous saints and devotions, a full walking stations of the cross and one for the Rosary as well.

Just another beautiful expression of the beauty and power of our catholic faith.

It also is a marvel to just look at the people God works through.

Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco were just poor shepherd kids. Juan Diego was a poor, simple peasant and Therese of Lisieux was just a precocious little girl with big dreams when God used them.

Saint Theresa of Calcutta is just another example. She lived among the poorest and most miserable. It was her who said something to the effect of it being impossible to see Jesus if you are not willing to see him in the distressing face of the poor.

Our Lady of Guadalupe appears to Saint Juan Diego. I will be there in November

An even more astounding example is in the person of Mary, herself. A poor wife of a carpenter from Nazareth, she is no one that the movers and shakers would have identified as great.

Then an Angel appeared to her and told her she would carry God within her.

No Saint has ever been exalted by God more than Mary, yet none was ever humbler and more graceful.

She is the model for all Christians to follow. Anyone trying to find Christianity in the face of the braggart and arrogant just isn't looking in the right place. The proud and the boastful have received their reward.

Our ultimate example and our ultimate prize is Jesus and He is the quest I am on. He is the key that unlocks the whole mystery. He is my all. None of the suffering of this crazy world makes any sense if He is not at the end of it. If He were merely that prize at the end, and nothing more, the most agonizing journey would still be worth it.

Yet that wasn't enough for Him.

He was not content to cheer us on through our way of sorrows, He joined us in it. As we often look at the tragedies of life and explore them, it looks like no good could possibly come from them. How it must have looked on that April day in 33 AD, seeing the bloodied Jesus hanging on a cross.

You are God yet came and was brutalized and murdered for me. Am I to have the gall to brag about anything? What can I dare to boast about after what you did? Arrogance before You is a vile thing. Be it far from me.

Among the wonders at the shrine is a life size replica of the Holy Stairs Jesus ascended to be condened by Pilate.

A beautiful replica of the Pieta.

After tostaircasuring the grounds, I was treated to a movie the shrine made including personal testimonies of devotees of Therese. I then touched some sacramentals to two relics of the little flower before joining the congregation in the Rosary and Mass.

Fulfilling the requirements, I have resolved to make this the first of my 5 saturdays for the devotion prescribed by Our Lady at Fatima. I should complete it in New Mexico at the miraculous staircase of Loretto

MAINE

My stay in Maine was the briefest of all and the gift shop wasn't open. Neverthless, I visited the grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes and took some pictures of Saint Anthony at the Franciscan monastery bearing his name. Mass at the monastery fulfilled my requiremrnt for a Franciscan Jubilee plenary indulgence. Merciful God, I humbly ask You to hold me within that Grace.