A Whisper in a chapel
MY CAMINO CALling at A CURSILLO RETREAT
“I want you to evangelize and catechize California, one soul at a time.”
That was the whispered answer of the Holy Spirit to my perpetual questions about what God’s work was for me. For years I had the sense God had a job for me to do. I would pray, “Lord, I’ll do whatever you want, just show me. Please don’t make me work so hard to figure it out.”
My friend Roy invited me to attend a Cursillo Men’s Retreat weekend. Roy was speaking and helping lead the Cursillo. Several buddies from St Joseph Marello joined me. I had a strong sense of anticipation and excitement about the Cursillo, even though I knew little about the weekend.
It was the first Thursday of Easter week 2022. I had spent the last two years absolutely beside myself as I watched our country, our Church, my company and our world descend into the madness and cultural unraveling of the lies of the covid19 response. There were times I was so upset I wanted to run down the street yelling, “Don’t buy the lies! Wake up! Do your homework!” That sense of urgency was still with me as I sat quietly in silent retreat in a chapel in the mountains at the edge of the Sierras in Applegate, CA.
I prayed again, “Lord, what do you want me to do?” The answer came in a quiet whisper more clearly and swiftly than anything I’d heard before: “I want you to evangelize and catechize California.” Chuckling to myself at how crazy this thought was, I heard next, “I want you to to do it one soul at a time.” Even though it made no sense to me to evangelize and entire state one person at at time, the call to focus on one at a time I had heard before. That’s when I knew for sure this was the whisper of the Holy Spirit and not my own wild imagination.
In the depths of my frustration in 2020, feeling powerless in the face of a society and culture that had lost its collective mind and shut itself down during the craziness of covid19, the answer to my prayer for guidance was simply, “Pray for one. Focus on one at a time.” And I had done just that, offering to pray on the spot for neighbors, strangers, friends, almost always with powerful impact on hearts and minds, including my own. The challenge was always trying to find the right opportunity to offer to pray with folks without it feeling awkward.
So I asked the obvious question of our Lord, “How exactly do I go about evangelizing and catechizing California one soul at at a time? What does this look like?” The Holy Spirit continued its quiet whisper, bringing to mind the Camino in Spain where souls journey one at a time seeking deeper meaning in their lives and regularly encounter our Lord. “I want you to build a Camino in California. I’ve already done the hard work for you by building the Missions. All you have to do is connect them.”
I sat in the chapel stunned, not quite knowing what to do with this message, this enormous calling. So I did what every good Catholic and Christian does when they aren’t sure they want to say Yes to God - I decided to discern this message first. I knew my wife for one would think this was just another of my big ideas, and she’d be very justified in her thinking!
The confirmations were numerous and super clear. I asked the Cursillo Deacon for a spiritual discernment exercise and instead he asked me what I was discerning, listened and then said, “Let’s do it!” Doing my research on pilgrimages to the CA Missions, the CA Knights of Columbus had just announced that 2022 as a year focused on pilgrimages to the CA Missions. My research led me to a phone call to Greg Woods who organizes an annual pilgrimage from Missions Ventura to Mission Santa Barbara. When I told Greg my crazy story and wild calling, his response was, “You’re not the only one!” Greg introduced me to the CA Mission Walkers and Pam Ray, who taught me all about pilgrimage logistics and that 10ishmiles was about the right distance for a group of pilgrims. Pam’s distance rule of thumb led me 13miles from Mission San Diego to St Brigid’s parish in Pacific Beach where I met Noreen, who had led pilgrimages previously, and Deacon Patrick McCay, who recently walked the Camino de Santiago in Spain and shares a passion for pilgrimage. St Brigid’s was also the founding parish for Modern Catholic Pilgrims - I knew I had been led to the right place! I found Chris Clifford who had walked all 21 Missions and encouraged me to find Archbishop Cordileone at Mission Dolores on the Feast Day of Junipero Serra. Archbishop’s Cordileone’s simple response to my written proposal was simply “Good idea!”
The most powerful confirmation and one that motivates me even now, is the realization that just five days before I sat in the chapel Easter Week 2022 and heard the whispered call to evangelize California, a young pilgrim by the name of Hope Waterman had just completed her own 800+mile Lenten walking backpacking and camping pilgrimage from Mission San Diego to Mission Sonoma, praying for the soul of California. When I found her story and read her words - almost exactly the same as the whisper I had received sitting in a quiet chapel - I was and am overwhelmed with joy and marvel at the work of the Holy Spirit.
Every pilgrimage I ask the Holy Spirit to make it obvious who we should pray with. One of those souls I’ve been blessed to pray with was Sally, who my buddy Jim and I met walking a 23mile 2023 Good Friday pilgrimage from Mission San Rafael to Mission Dolores. We were walking a beautiful lonely road headed towards the Golden Gate Bridge when Sally saw our backpack crosses and called out to us excitedly from a distance - calling us her angels. We had a chance to pray with Sally. She sent us the picture at the top of this story.
May you hear the whisper in your heart.