I had just finished a grad school class and had some extra time on my hands. The grad school class I took was time-consuming because of a group project with intense individual assignments. Needless to say–I was relieved to be done with it! A week after I finished it, I thought it would be cool to go for a short pilgrimage involving a hike and daily Mass. Since St. Patrick’s day was approaching, I decided it would be fitting to visit my cathedral, which is named St. Patrick’s. I needed something cheap and something that didn’t take a whole lot of time because of my pilgrimage problem in 2018.
For this pilgrimage, I decided to fast from listening to music or podcasts while driving anywhere and then not use my phone while hiking. I wanted to do a better job of entering into a quiet and peaceful place interiorly from distractions. It’s hard to do that when Taylor Swift or Bruno Mars is blasting on my radio, and I’m singing along like no one is listening. And then, I’ve also recognized that I look at my iPhone way too much on a day-to-day basis. I don’t really give myself a chance to really disconnect so that’s why I decided to give it up while hiking.
In terms of planning, putting it all together didn’t take very long. Here are the details:
Pilgrimage Details:
Itinerary:
- 0600 Morning Prayer @ Home
- 0630 Breakfast @ Home
- 0800 Depart for Marion Samson Park
- 0830-1030 Marion Samson Park
- 1130 Confession @ St. Patrick’s Cathedral
- 1205 Daily Mass @ St. Patrick’s Cathedral
- 1300 Lunch @ downtown or nearby
Points of Interest
Marion Samson Park
This park is kind of a hidden gem because I feel like no one really talks about it, and no one really says they go there. It has some cool features like many mountain biking and some hiking trails. Great views of Lake Worth. Short water falls. Varied vegetation.
I took my DSLR camera with me and took shots here and there. Almost got ran over by mountain bikers a few times.
I also spent some time to journal at the waterfalls. The glorious thing was that I pretty much had the area to myself for about twenty minutes. It was wonderful spending some time with God in nature like that with the splashes of the waterfall going and the ink from my pen purposefully and intentionally leaving personal marks. Then some college guys came in and were being loud, which was fine because I had wrapped up my journaling anyway by the time they arrived.
I kind of got lost trying to get out…I had to use my iPhone briefly in order to check Google Maps in order to make sure that I was heading the right direction to my car in order to get to Mass. On my personal exodus from the park, I had to part from the trail multiple times as multiple groups of mountain bikers intersected my path. Reaching my car unscathed, I headed towards the cathedral.
St. Patrick’s Cathedral
I arrived early enough to catch Confession. I ended being the second guy in line, but it was still super awkward sliding into the pew and judging how close I should sit to the guy already in line. While waiting, I made progress reading the current Catholic book I’m reading, The Catholic Hipster’s Handbook by Tommy Tighe. Because I’m not enough of a Catholic hipster.
Got to have fresh Confesh, and then daily Mass. I also prayed for the prayer intentions that I carried with me.
Since I’m writing this a month after the fact, I don’t quite remember what the homily was about. However, it certainly was nice to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by going to Mass and not partying foolishly at noon on the streets of downtown yelling “woooo!” at complete strangers while holding a warm beer. After daily Mass, I got back into my car to head over to a different district of downtown.
Downtown, kind of
I heard about a relatively new ramen shop that opened up nearby, so I decided to check it out. Why? Because no one thinks to go to a ramen shop on St. Patrick’s Day. And my assumption was rather correct because I went in, and only a handful of other people were in there lunching and slurping away at their ramen. Meanwhile, restaurants nearby were already packed with St. Patrick’s Day party people. They got nothing on me because the green onions floating about my ramen noodles was deliciously more festive!
After the ramen shop, I decided to go around the block to a popular ice cream place. They bake their own cookies and thus are known for their ice cream sandwiches. Because St. Patrick’s Day is a day to celebrate, even during Lent, I decided to splurge and enjoy an ice cream sandwich. White macadamia nut cookies spooning with cookies and cream ice cream in-between.
Stats and Achievements
- Total Cost: $20.32 (food)
- Total Distance Walked: 4.8 miles / ~10,800 steps
- 4x Nearly Getting Run Over By Mountain Bikers
Response
I’ve kind of been experiencing some spiritual dryness. I think it largely came from not being intentional with all my typical spiritual practices. I was totally the deer that yearns for flowing streams. Going out to take a hike and disconnecting for a while helped me be less distracted and focus more on where I’m at with God. Of course, going to Confession helped as well as experiencing God in His Word and Eucharist at Mass. All of this was quite refreshing, moreso than a bottle of an ice-cold, condensing Coca-Cola on a drippingly humid, summer day.
This St. Patrick’s Day pilgrimage was a good time to refocus on what’s most important this Lent. Going forward, I should give myself opportunities to disconnect and not be afraid to do simple short pilgrimages like this one. After all, I need to be more of a pilgrim for less.
I know it was a few months ago, but did you do anything for St. Patrick’s Day?
JR is a full-time engineer working in the aerospace industry. Apart from having such a fly job, he flies unto the arms of Our Lady and the Church pursuing his faith and a relationship with Christ. Over the past several years, faith and flying via pilgrimages became a thing. When he’s not being fly, JR hangs out with family, friends, his chihuahua, and with thoughts of the next trip.