What I Do Before Every Pilgrimage: Prayer Requests

When preparing for a pilgrimage, I’m usually somewhere on the spectrum of no planning to oh-my-gosh-I’m-freaking-out. Amidst the craziness, I’m thinking about what to pack, transportation logistics, and my itinerary. These preparations can occupy a lot of my mental and physical energy. But despite all of this, I try to make sure I’m also spiritually prepared or thinking about the spiritual things for the trip. I’ve been going on pilgrimages for several years now, and these pilgrimages range from major ones like World Youth Day to small ones like my recent St. Patrick’s Day pilgrimage. Since pilgrimages are journeys to sacred places in order to encounter God or as part of religious devotion, they obviously have a spiritual aspect. Go check out my post on what pilgrimages are for the definition of pilgrimages.

Before I go on pilgrimage or if I travel somewhere with the intent, I do one thing before I go–I ask for prayer requests and intentions.

Why do I ask for prayer requests and intentions?

Several reasons. When I pray for these requests and intentions, they help me remember to keep the journey spiritual. Especially when I’m traveling for other reasons and can squeeze in a side pilgrimage of sorts, having something and/or having people to pray for helps me keep in mind these things as I go encounter God while traveling. This also effectively holds me accountable to pray because I would just feel incredibly bad saying that I would pray for these requests and intentions and not doing it would be a real jerk move of me. Lastly, it’s just good to pray for each other and lift each other up.

What do I do with those intentions?

Usually, I will pray for them whenever I visit a church or go to Mass or Adoration. Oftentimes, I get to visit more than one church and have multiple opportunities to pray for the intentions that I carry with me on a pilgrimage.

Sometimes I’ll even pray for them whenever I’m in transit going somewhere like when I’m riding a train or bus.

Last year, when I went on a pilgrimage to Nagasaki, Japan, I got to visit a handful of different churches in the city. While there, I prayed for the intentions I carried with me in front of the relics of St. Paul Miki and some of his companions, the friary that St. Max Kolbe hung out at, the church where the Hidden Christians revealed themselves and where Pope St. John Paul II celebrated Mass in the 1980’s, and a few other normal churches.

What inspired me to do this?

Back in 2013, I had the blessing and privilege to be able to go to World Youth Day Rio De Janeiro chaperoning some of my youth group. In preparing for this World Youth Day pilgrimage, we asked our parishioners for prayer intentions to take with us. Even at work, I asked one coworker of mine who ended up asking many people around the office for prayer intentions on my behalf. We made copies of these intentions for everyone to have so that we could pray for them while visiting churches, going to Mass, going to Adoration, and attending the other World Youth Day events.

Since World Youth Day 2013, I’ve made sure to ask for prayer intentions and requests before every pilgrimage.

What are the effects of carrying prayer intentions and requests on pilgrimages?

I find it fascinating to collect prayer intentions and requests from others. Inevitably, I learn the trials and sufferings of others or the very things that are on their hearts at the moment. Whenever I make somewhat public calls for prayer requests and intentions, especially on social media, sometimes I hear from people I hardly ever talk to, but who have some heavy or serious things they need prayers for. That’s why I consider it very important for me to actually pray for these intentions whenever I go on pilgrimages, and why I really try to strive for keeping the pilgrimage spiritual.

Whenever I post about collecting prayer requests on social media, I like to share pictures of the sacred places and churches that I visit in the thread. It helps people know that I’m actually praying for them, and I’m often thanked for doing so.

Here’s an example of me asking and me posting follow up pictures when I did the St. Patrick’s Day pilgrimage:

We’re all in need of God’s love and mercy, and all of us are charged with the mission of helping each other get to heaven. For me, beginning a pilgrimage with prayer requests helps me grow in my faith and in relationship with people. I get to encounter God as I’m on a pilgrimage while also encountering a deeper relationship with my family, friends, and peers who asked me to pray for them and their intentions. And that’s awesome.

With that said…

A question for you–is there anything you’d like me to pray for?