"Show Me Your Ways, Lord"

On August 14, the renewed Franciscan Youth Pilgrimage will set off from Esztergom. At the end of the five-day pilgrimage on foot, the participants will arrive in Mátraverebély-Szentkút on August 19, and then close the program with a joint mass on the feast of Saint Stephen.

The idea of ​​this pilgrimage comes from the Franciscan brothers who took part in the pilgrimage from Warsaw to Częstochowa during the communist decades, when it was free in Poland. A lot has changed since then, and just as the church is always in need of reform, so a meeting like this needs to be renewed from time to time. What changes have taken place since launch?

According to Brother Péter Szabó OFM, this story actually started in 1995. During the Warsaw-Częstochowa pilgrimage, Father Varga Kapistzrán thought why they could not also make a pilgrimage to a Franciscan shrine of Mary at home. Not long after, the first Hungarian youth pilgrimage of the order was organized: at that time, they walked the route with newly graduated alumni of the Franciscan high schools in Esztergom and Szentendre. In 2019, we celebrated the 25th anniversary - until then there was a pilgrimage every year - but unfortunately it was canceled last year due to the coronavirus. Starting over always creates new opportunities, so this omission made us rethink the forms, rethink the whole pilgrimage. The most important innovation - which is not an innovation at all, but a return to an old habit - is that this event is once again organized specifically for young people: the age group between 16 and 35 years old, who are in the years of active engagement; those who are looking for their way, or who have already found it, and by participating in the pilgrimage, they can bear witness to those who are still in the search phase. According to the organizers, some people found each other here, and some chose the monastic life, or this is where their vocation became clear.

The Franciscans chose a scripture, a psalm, as this year's theme: "Show me your ways, Lord" (Psalm 24:4). From the very beginning, the objective of this pilgrimage is actually that the young people find the path that the Good Lord wants to show them. They didn't want to overthink what the theme should be: they will reflect on the different professions during our journey. "We would like to show and personally present to the young people that monks and priests are flesh and blood people, and that it is not alien to life at all if God calls someone to this commitment. In addition, as Brother Jeromos said, we also invite family members who have their marriages and relationships from here, from the pilgrimage." - said brother Balázs Jeromos OFM.

Sometimes even a single day is enough to change our lives, the organizers say and believe.

Source, full article and featured image: 777.blog.hu