Chimayo: The Pilgrimage

I decided to travel to New Mexico to do the Pilgrimage to Chimayo on Good Friday, April 22, 2011. Stayed with friends in Santa Fe. On Good Friday, Linda and I met the Archbishop Sheehan at the beginning of the pilgrimage. It was a 8.5 mile walk on a dusty road, no sidewalks, lots of traffic and heavy foot traffic, up and down hills. Hundreds of pilgrims. We walked along the roadway for what seemed hours. Stopped to go to the bathroom along the way. They had portable toilets for the pilgrims to use. About three quarter of the way on the pilgrimage, I was feeling pretty weary. The Archdiocese had a van we could use in case we could not make it. I thought about St Bridget of Sweden when Jesus appeared to her and asked her to go to Rome on a special assignment. She responded: "I'm 68 years old (same age I am now), I'm tired, can hardly walk. I can't do it." Jesus responds: "Who do you think you are talking to? I am strength! If I send you on an assignment to Rome, I will provide the strength for you to do it. So get up and go." She went. I said to Jesus: "OK, you are strength, I don't have much in me right now but if you give me your strength, I can make it to the end." Suddenly, I got a second wind, and I made it to the end. Whew!! Thank you Jesus!!