Last Minute Thoughts from Brandon

Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam

What we are going to do these next nine days is significant. No doubt it will be very fun and joyful, but it is significant. After having planned this trip for so long, it's easy for any of us to get used to the idea of "going to Rome for a discernment pilgrimage." I've had to explain it countless times, so the words almost become numb. But what does it really mean, what are we really going to do?

Well, to put it simply, we are attempting to better listen to God's call for our lives by going to some of the holiest sites in Christendom, to the heart of our Church. This city has nourished Saints for centuries, and now we seek the same nourishment. We seek the answers others have found in this holy city, the answers to the big question, "God, what do you want me to do with my life?" This is significant. It's not a vacation or an educational trip. It's a pilgrimage. St. Ignatius liked to talk about himself as "the pilgrim", he liked to think of life as a pilgrimage. Well, we are going on a very real pilgrimage to Rome in order to better understand the path God has planned for our pilgrimage in life.

I sit here writing this while most of you are asleep. I'm actually surprised at how I have prepared for this journey. I'm an intense person, and add on top of that my anxiety, well, it's quite common for me to overprepare and overthink everything. I haven't done that this time. As the trip started to come within weeks' reach, I was thinking, "Well what should I do? What can I do?" There were few odds and ends things I had to do, obvious things, like raise the money and turn in the paperwork. But I didn't let myself overdo it. I think that was truly a grace from the Blessed Mother. She kept me from overpreparing and overdoing it all, in order to allow me to be truly open on this pilgrimage.

I do not know what to expect completely. I almost always plan what to expect. This time, I'm open to anything, open to any experience God wills for me. I don't have a plan for what this trip will look like. I almost always have a plan. I think the way I have handled preparing for this trip points to how I should handle my vocation overall: don't overplan or overthink it, just be open to what God wills. It's easy to say that but hard to do it. Somehow, by the grace of God and intercession of His Most Holy Mother, I'm open and levelheaded for this trip. By His continued grace, I ask to have an amazing, uplifting experience, and to be open and ready to wherever He calls me, all the days of my life.

O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria,
Ora pro nobis Sancta Dei Genitrix, ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.