Highlight #15 – Seeds leading to unknown fruit.
After two weeks of unpacking the lessons learned from Called to be More, it’s time to wrap up with the overarching lesson and highlight. The most exciting aspect of the pilgrimage is that we have yet to know the fruits that God has in mind. The readings for Mass on our final day, July 10, were extraordinarily appropriate. The Gospel was the parable of the sower, which reminded us that our week had been a time of planting seeds, which God will water and allow to bear fruit in His timing.
The week of walking was certainly an adventure, but it’s a reminder that all of life is to be an adventure too. It struck me at various points during the walk that any of these young men could be ordained some day or married someday. Any one of these young women could be professing religious vows one day or walking down the aisle one day. I’m confident that whatever their vocation, God will use the time during the Called to be More pilgrimage as a moment when He stirred in their hearts a deeper calling.
We also don’t know what seeds were planted with others – with pastors we met, parishioners we conversed with, strangers we walked past. We don’t know who read the back of our shirts. We don’t know who read about our story in the Enquirer. We don’t know was touched by a simple pilgrim’s smile.
What we do know is that we can be confident that God will take our offering of the pilgrimage – the suffering, the joy, the reflections, the prayers, the silence, the conversations, the sacrifices, the uncertainties, the confidence, the footsteps – and allow them to bear great fruit. What a joy to watch it blossom!
After two weeks of unpacking the lessons learned from Called to be More, it’s time to wrap up with the overarching lesson and highlight. The most exciting aspect of the pilgrimage is that we have yet to know the fruits that God has in mind. The readings for Mass on our final day, July 10, were extraordinarily appropriate. The Gospel was the parable of the sower, which reminded us that our week had been a time of planting seeds, which God will water and allow to bear fruit in His timing.
The week of walking was certainly an adventure, but it’s a reminder that all of life is to be an adventure too. It struck me at various points during the walk that any of these young men could be ordained some day or married someday. Any one of these young women could be professing religious vows one day or walking down the aisle one day. I’m confident that whatever their vocation, God will use the time during the Called to be More pilgrimage as a moment when He stirred in their hearts a deeper calling.
We also don’t know what seeds were planted with others – with pastors we met, parishioners we conversed with, strangers we walked past. We don’t know who read the back of our shirts. We don’t know who read about our story in the Enquirer. We don’t know was touched by a simple pilgrim’s smile.
What we do know is that we can be confident that God will take our offering of the pilgrimage – the suffering, the joy, the reflections, the prayers, the silence, the conversations, the sacrifices, the uncertainties, the confidence, the footsteps – and allow them to bear great fruit. What a joy to watch it blossom!
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