A Pilgrimage is a journey to a holy place, like going to Lourdes, the Santuario de Chimayo or another holy place. Back in 1988, I was inspired to leave St. Teresa Parish in Grants, NM and go to Juarez, Mexico to live and minister with the Friars among the people in the periphery where they came to work in the factories and live in cardboard or platform little houses until they could build a brick room.
I left St. Teresa Church on June 12th, my anniversary of ordination, walked out with
only what I needed and many parishioners walked with me. When I got to Acoma Pueblo a young man came and asked if he could walk with me. Of course, I said and we talked and sang a song: 'Something Strange is Happening to me.' The next 2 days his wife and family members walked with me and helped me with water and food. When I got close to Albuquerque and my blisters were getting worse, I decided to take a day of rest. Ed and his wife Eva came and asked if they could walk
with me to Juarez because their family community wanted them to go with me. So the next day they came with their little brown car, their little daughter Jessica and her tricycle. We walked and began to get acquainted and I told them of my blisters. They told me that I needed to get tennis shoes and 6 pairs of socks and wear 2 at a time till they got wet with sweat and change them. One would walk with me and talk about their relationship and their difficulties. I listened as we walked. Ed also
told me things he could not tell his wife.

We continued the walk, camping out and having people feed us and some put us up at their homes. I listened, and prayed that how I had offended some people in Grants would be forgiven and then halfway there began to pray for how I would enter this new life in Mexico. We rested, walked, talked, prayed and got near
El Paso. We attempted to climb Cristo Rey mountain but I only made it halfway because I ran out of water, which on the journey happened many times. Ed continued on after fasting from food and water in his Native tradition and arrived at the top below the large image of Cristo Rey and was overcome with the sun in a spiritual experience and prayed for his family and all at Acoma, as is their traditional way of prayer.

We entered Juarez on June 24, feast of St. John the Baptist and were greeted with buckets of water thrown remembering the Baptism of Jesus. Ed, Eva, and Jessica went back home and I began the transition to life in Mexico.What I learned was like riding on a Greyhound bus and talking with the passenger next to you sharing many things you never shared with your family and then getting off and knowing these secrets would never be disclosed. This is what a pilgrimage is all about: not getting to the goal as much as what happens on the journey: meeting people, walking, sharing, praying and walking on holy ground.