Bringing Back the Boon: A Few Final Thoughts

One tradition with pilgrimage is to "bring back the boon" or gifts for others from the pilgrimage.

Amazingly, I am devoid of the usual random junk I bring back from trips after  (other than a bag of peat that our friend Mossey Scanlon gave us- he cut it with his Dad many years ago!) no sweaters, no whiskey, no harp pins or Guiness tshirts.

Not sure why. Part of it is because we had little time for shopping. Another, though, is that we were overloaded with spiritual gifts granted to us by a God who was made present to us in so many exceedingly

loving ways: the perfect weather , the "perfectly timed" occurrence of this pilgrimage for so many people, the moments that the pilgrims shared during our talks, Trinity Sunday mass in an oratory at An Diseart, Con Moriarty, Ann, Mossey and Naoise. Too many gifts to even list, really.

I am even more grateful for you, the Church, and for your vision in keeping pilgrimage as an important rite of passage for our young people. Make no mistake- this was no pleasure voyage. We hiked some tough roads and went to some very rocky places- we saw great beauty and we encountered God in other fellow "pilgrims" , we prayed without ceasing and we all pushed our physical and spiritual limits.

Our pilgrims were much loved and appreciated by the people here. Their generous and gracious attitudes extended to everyone they met and (often) to one another. They felt your prayers and experienced God in a multitude of experiences that will continue to resonate in their lives.

We look forward to brining you all our stories when we see you again and in August when we do our presentation during formation hour. Your prayers were most present with us all and we love you and wish for you the peace we felt among these green hills.

Tim