Traveling with God

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

*Cheryl Whapham

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I was moved to tears by Ana Soto’s blog about her visit to the Sistine Chapel during Archbishop Wenski’s Pallium Pilgrimage last month. I’ve never been to Rome and my breath catches in my throat when I think about the opportunity to pray in the Sistine Chapel and then lie down on its marble floor and gaze upon the frescoes of Michelangelo while Elizabeth Lev explains their rich history. It makes our upcoming trip to visit family in North Carolina and Ohio seem so mundane and well, unholy…

Our friends and colleagues who went on the Pallium Pilgrimage were blessed with a “mountain top” experience, and through the grace of technology we were able to share in that experience. Throughout history, the Lord has given us mountain top experiences in order to sustain us for our lives in the valley. The Good News is that God lives in the valley with us and there are plenty of opportunities to encounter God right here below.

So as we prepare to hit the road this summer on our pilgrimage, I’ll be doing a few things before I leave to prepare the way. These are things that you can do also this summer or anytime that you are traveling by land, sea or air.

Check out the diocesan website for the area you will be visiting. If it is in the U.S. and you don’t know the diocese, go to the USCCB website. www.usccb.org. There might be conferences or events that you can participate in during your visit.
Check out www.masstimes.org, as Archbishop Wenski mentioned in his column this week, to find a parish and a Mass time anywhere in the world. That’s right, the world. TheCatholicDirectory.com has a free iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad App that users can download from their website.
Before you go to Mass at a church you’re visiting, take a tour. How is it similar/different to your parish? Where is the tabernacle located? Where is the baptismal font? Where is the ambry? What do the Stations of the Cross look like?
Don’t forget your rosary! A long car trip is a great time to teach your kids to pray the rosary. And guess what — it’s okay if you haven’t done it yourself in a long time and you need help remembering how to do it. Go to this website http://www.amm.org/prayers/pryrose.asp (or another of your choice) and you can print a “How to guide” to take with you on the trip.
When visiting with Catholic friends or family, start conversations about ministries in their parishes. Share ideas, stories, and network. Learn from each other about how to better serve the people of God.
PRAY! Thank God for the time to rest, relax, and refresh ourselves physically, spiritually and mentally! What a tremendous gift it is to spend time with friends and family, in new places or in places where we haven’t been in a while.
What suggestions do you have? What do you do when you travel in order to “travel with God”?

Comments from readers

Marta Vargas - 07/16/2010 05:47 PM: Cheryl! Loved this! Thank you for the insightful and wonderfully practical thoughts and ideas to help us in our travels, as well as for creating in this such a great conversation to be blessed by each other's experiences and ideas.... while being reminded that no matter where we go, we can 'travel with God' and in it experience all the richer of an adventure. :)

Along the lines of travel and iPhones, just came across a neat new App that will travel with those who have iPhones released recently for the New Mass translation showing the current version and version, plus the explanation for the change. http://thefaithexplained.com/the-new-mass/iphone/

Let's see what are some things I enjoy while traveling (in between many of the excellent ones already mentioned)...

1. A Chance To Embrace Silence: Okay, not necessarily feasible when traveling in groups I know.... But when traveling alone, I take a few moments during the road trip to embrace the silence and sit in that a bit , take in the landscape / ponder the vastness before me, reflect on recent past , the destination ahead, or whatever else in my heart... or simply be quiet with God. :)

2. A Chance To Connect With 'The Airwaves of Grace': Another favorite activity is to search out Catholic and Christian stations in each area, invariably a special blessing whether discovering a new favorite worship song, being inspired with a word of encouragement in a great talk show just when needed , learning about a new awesome resource, and more.

3. A Chance To Explore - Thanks to wealth of great audio resources that now make it possible for even the busiest of us to learn, grow and be inspired while driving, sometimes I take a moment to do at least one title for my growth and one to review a new resource for my ministries. I tend to gravitate towards short talks on CD in order to allow time to insert other great things like prayer into the trip. Some favorites discovered along the way include Matthew Kelly (Becoming The Best Version of Yourself, The Seven Levels of Intimacy, Building Better Families, available via his site or Lighthouse Catholic Media), "Simplify Your Life" (Jeff Cavins/Ascension Press), "The Mass Comes Alive" and "Amazing Angels And Super Saints" by Cat Chat (it's for kids but I LOVED these), available through their site or Lighthouse Catholic Media), "What Every Couple Needs To Know About Marriage and Prayer" (Archbishop Fulton Sheen/ Lighthouse Catholic Media), among others.

Okay better stop before making this way too long.... but hey that just means your blog was super effective in REALLY getting me and the rest of us thinking... so THANK YOU soooo much and keep up the great work! :)

Cheryl - 07/14/2010 06:02 PM: Thanks Carol for info on another radio station for people to check out.

Br. Richard - I forgot you had an iPhone. I don't have one and I was trying to think of someone who might have some "cool Catholic apps" to share with us. Thank you. Br. Richard is refering to the Liturgy of the Hours or the Divine Office when he says he left his "office" book in his friend's car. That's his prayer book. So instead he downloaded an app. I just went to that website www.divineoffice.org and it's a great site. Great information on how to pray the Liturgy of the Hours if you would like to learn how to do it. Anyone can pray the Divine Office even though we usually just see priests and religious doing so. And yes, you can download the app from iTunes. Night prayer is FREE if you want to give that a try first. Then if it suits your prayer life you can download the whole app. or buy the books. Hey, some of us still like to take books on our trips!

Richard DeMaria - 07/14/2010 03:14 PM: Cheryl, I left my office book in the car of a friend with whom I prayed morning prayer on a lon drive. Fortunately, there is an app that I could download onto my iphone with Lauds, Vespers and Compline. This enables me to listen to the Prayer of Christians (Divine Office) while I read along.

Carol Martin - 07/14/2010 02:31 PM: I like to find out, when I am away from home, whether the area gets Relevant Radio, the Catholic listeners supported radio station. I know I can get it on line at RelevantRadio.com, I just Google in Relevant Radio, but I dont have a lap top. When in Broward County I can't get it. But it is a great way to hear about out faith.

Cheryl - 07/14/2010 01:47 PM: Kathy- Thank you for reminding me to extend that invitation to non-catholic friends and family to join us in our worship celebrations. An invitation from a Catholic friend to a non-catholic friend to come to a Mass can help break down invisible walls, barriors and misconceptions about our faith and can open their eyes and your own eyes to the beauty of our liturgy.

Pat Solenski - 07/14/2010 11:40 AM: Cheryl
How necessary that we remind ourselves and others that vacation is a time to rest and renew our relationship with God. Vacations are ' mini sabbatha's' that call us to rest in the wonder of our God as we experience His creation (new places and scenes7456) and His creatures (friends and family members). If we forget him, I am reminded of the films "Home Alone". When we don't bring Him along we get into lots of trouble! haha

Cheryl - 07/14/2010 10:35 AM: Antonio - Awesome! Just Awesome! I smiled when I saw "we landed in Las Vegas". I thought to myself, "this is great - a trip to 'sin city' becomes holy" AND IT DID!! You and Nini are so wonderful! Thank you for sharing your experience with us, what a great trip! Looking forward to seeing you soon.

Cheryl - 07/14/2010 10:19 AM: Neida - Thank you SO much for mentioning Catholic Radio!!! What an oversight on my part! Yes, another wonderful way to Travel with God. I just did a quick internet search and it is easy to find local AM or FM Catholic Radio channels for the areas to which you will be traveling. Also if you have satellite radio you can always have access to EWTN Channel 160 on SiriusXM.

Kathy Kwok - 07/14/2010 10:12 AM: Thank you, Cheryl, for the traveling tips!

When visiting with non-Catholic friends and family, invite them to go to Mass with you and share the grace with them.

Enjoy North Carolina and Ohio (visiting Sr. Rita?!) with your family.

Antonio Fernandez - 07/13/2010 11:18 AM: Thanks for this topic, very timely during the Summer vacation period. Cheryl, don't feel bad about going on a "mundane" trip. Actually, we just returned from a trip to Arizona and was very holy... we landed in Las Vegas on a Saturday afternoon and thanks to the www.masstimes.org, we had our plans made to attend Mass there... we went to the Guardian Angel Cathedral. In Tucson we went to see St. Augustine Cathedral and it was closed for repairs... however, a priest saw us taking pictures of the exterior and offered to show us the inside... beatiful cathedral... we expended more than an hour with this priest listening to the explanations about the Cathedral and the Church in Arizona. We visited missions founded by Fr. Kino in southern Arizona and in Phoenix we went to SS. Simon & Jude Cathedral... it was almost like a pilgrimace. We wanted to pray in the Cathedral were Arch. McCarthy was its first bishop... to our joy there is a plaque next to the main altar mentioning him! In Sonoma we went to visit the Holy Cross Chapel in the mountains, and when we arrived, they were ready to start a Taize Prayer Service. However, some of our most profound religious experiences in this trip were contemplating the beauty of God's creation in so many beautiful places.
Happy and safe traveling with God to all!

Neida D. Perez - 07/13/2010 05:50 AM: I have no suggesions but a word of thanks and good wishes for your trip. I am still in awe for Ana's description of the trip and in awe of how updated our Church is. Like you said God is also among family and friends...in a different way. Back to technology, I was feeling very lonely at prayer until I discovered the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament on Radio Peace. I really feel that many of us are connected at prayer. Thanks again.