I WAS out of the country for close to a month to join my husband as he fulfilled a promise: to take his parents to the faith-based Marian Pilgrimage Tour in Europe. This was my husband’s way of honoring his parents who are celebrating their birthdays this May as octogenarians. They have devoted their lives to serving the church back in the Philippines since their retirement. The pilgrimage tour would be the perfect gift to his parents.
Through the help of my dear friend Mr. Johnny Francisco of Mango Tours, we joined the pilgrimage tour. This pilgrimage has been very significant this year as the Catholic Christians celebrate the 100th year of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s apparition in Fatima, Portugal.
Being part of the tour group has eased up all the concerns and stresses that go with preparing for all the details of our trip’s itinerary, especially when you are traveling with seniors.
There were about 45 of us in the group that met up in Lisbon, Portugal. Lo, and behold! More than a third of the group were Filipinos — and as our tour director said, indeed, Filipinos are among the top travelers on faith-based tours. In fact, many Filipinos would choose to go to Rome, the Holy Land, Fatima, Lourdes, etc if they could only travel abroad once in their life — a testament to the commitment of our kababayans to grow in faith and devotion to God.
Aboard an air-conditioned coach with picture windows, WiFi and USB charger in every seat, our 12-day sojourn took us to Portugal, France and Spain where we visited Marian shrines, places of worship, churches, pilgrimage destinations and had good city and cultural tours of the places we visited. My husband and I extended our trip to take my in-laws visit the Vatican and see Pope Francis in person in Rome.
After visits to churches in Lisbon, we headed north and made a quick stop to Santarem, Portugal to visit the Church of the Eucharistic Holy Miracle.
In the evening, we arrived in Fatima, where we stayed for two nights. We visited the shrine made famous by the Virgin Mary’s appearance in 1917 to three shepherd children, which culminated in the revelation of the Three Secrets of Fatima. We joined pilgrims from different parts of the world for Rosary and candlelight procession at the Our Lady of Fatima Basilica.
After Fatima, we had a short stop in Braga, described as one of the oldest Christian cities in the world, and nicknamed “Portuguese Rome.” We visited the Bom Jesus Do Monte Sanctuary, an important pilgrimage site where many devout Catholics have reportedly walked the “Stations of the Cross” for purposes of reflection and penance since 1811.
From Braga, we headed North to Santiago de Compostela, which we learned to be one of the top pilgrimage destinations since the Middle Ages. Pilgrims come from different parts of the world and take different routes starting from France, Madrid, Portugal, etc., doing the Camino walk, which may take up to three weeks, with all routes leading to St. James Cathedral.
We attended the Pilgrims Mass in the Cathedral, which houses the remains of the apostle St. James beneath the High Altar. The highlight for me was the famous Botafumeiro — the giant swinging metal thurible that burns incense to bless the pilgrims.
After our two-night stop in Santiago de Compostela and having watched “The Way” on the bus—the movie was written and directed by Emilio Esteves, starring his father Martin Sheen about a father’s pilgrimage in the “Camino de Santiago—I vowed to walk this pilgrimage with my husband in the near future.
We made a one night stop in Burgos, the historic capital of Old Castille. We visited, prayed, and had mass at the magnificent Burgos Cathedral.
En route to Lourdes, France we passed by the beautiful landscape of Northern Spain, including the alps of the south—the Pyrenees Mountains.
We stopped in Cabreira, a medieval town on top of a mountain and it snowed in April! The old church and the quaint town was like frozen in time.
Thereafter we visited the 17th-century Sanctuary of Loyola, built in honor of San Ignacio de Loyola, founder of the Jesuit religious order. St. Ignatius was born to a rich and noble family and was a knight himself. His near-death experience made him give up his knight’s sword and lavish lifestyle, and embarked on a pilgrimage himself and offered his life in service to God.
Our next stop was Lourdes in France where we stayed for two nights. Lourdes is another popular pilgrimage site for Catholics because this was where the Virgin Mary appeared to St. Bernadette. We went to mass, joined the nightly Rosary and procession, and prayed in the famous Grotto, where the holy water springs from the mountain. It was a very touching and uplifting experience. We also visited the birthplace and home of St. Bernadette.
En route back to Spain, we made a stop in Carcassonne, near the France-Spain border. The Fortified Citadel brought us back to the Middle Ages with all the ramparts, castle walls and drawbridges. Oh, how we enjoyed traditional French food for lunch al fresco in the courtyard!
The last leg of the tour was Barcelona, Spain where we stayed for three nights. We enjoyed the city tour, visited Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia, and went up to the pilgrimage site of Montserrat, situated more than 4000 feet above sea level in a picturesque mountain range, said to be composed of striking pink conglomerate sedimentary rocks.
Montserrat is the site of the Benedictine Abbey that hosts the Black Virgin. This place is a beautiful serene place where pilgrims walk to, pray, hear mass, reflect. (Montserrat was St. Ignatius’ pilgrimage destination)
After our Marian Shrine Pilgrimage tour and the side trip to Rome, I thought we gave a gift to my in-laws. It turned out that in doing so, we also gave a gift to ourselves because of how we have grown in faith, love and dedication to God. I pray you will be blessed with the same experience too. God be with us all.
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
