The two dozen perpetual pilgrims accompanying Christ in the Eucharist along four paths to Indianapolis have seen significant landmarks along the way, both natural and manmade: the headwaters of the Mississippi River, the Statue of Liberty, and the nation’s capital. But only one route has crossed the Continental Divide.
That’s the line that runs from the Bering Strait in Alaska all the way down the North and South American continents to the Strait of Magellan in Chile. It’s called a divide because it separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from those river systems that drain into the Atlantic and Arctic Ocean, including those that drain into the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and Hudson Bay.
The Junipero Serra Route, which began in San Francisco and is the longest branch of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, covering over 2,200 miles, traveled through Colorado in early June. Before getting into Denver, the five perpetual pilgrims, accompanied by seminarians and their chaplain, traveled through Rocky Mountain National Park June 6.
“We drove through a lot of wonderful nature, and there were a lot of processions and Benedictions,” said Patrick Fayad, one of the pilgrims. “We went to one very small parish out in the country, and the day we happened to be scheduled there it was their 100th anniversary celebration, so it was a big deal for them, and they loved that we were there.”
In a weekly online press conference, Fayad told Aleteia that the passage took place on “a day of a lot of driving and some road sickness,” going through the park and dealing with a trailer that was fishtailing on the curvy roads.
“We got off at a point near the intercontinental divide, the highest we could get in the park and still park the van,” Fayad said. “There were people who had followed us all the way from the beginning of the park. We went and did a little procession in a space not more than an acre. Benediction was done over the Rockies.”
In the footsteps of a Eucharistic saint
While that might have been the high point of their trip so far, they were buoyed by a chance encounter just down the road. In the town of Estes Park, someone recommended that they stop in the Chapel on the Rock nearby. Officially called St. Catherine of Siena Chapel, the church is located on the grounds of Camp St. Malo of the Archdiocese of Denver.
It just so happened that about 40 youngsters who were in summer camp at Annunciation Heights, about a mile away, were attending their weekly Mass in the chapel.
“We saw maybe 40 children on their knees, all chanting in Latin a song of adoration,” Fayad said. “It was a very beautiful and serene moment.”
The group could only take a few minutes there, as it was not a scheduled stop, but people in the area heard that the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage was stopping at Chapel on the Rock and spontaneously showed up for the Eucharistic Procession.
It was a scene that would please Pope St. John Paul II, a pope who had a great devotion to the Eucharist. In 1993, when John Paul came to Colorado for World Youth Day, he visited Camp St. Malo to rest and pray. According to Camp St. Malo's website, the Polish pontiff, who loved the mountains, had lunch, took a nap, hiked up Cabin Creek, stopped to read German poetry on a rock, and prayed in the Chapel on the Rock.
Following in his footsteps, the perpetual pilgrims left the serene environment and headed for Denver, where a few days later, on Sunday, they were at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception for Sunday Mass. Denver Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila led a procession through the city and blessed the state capital.
“It was the biggest crowd they ever had,” Fayad said, noting that the Eucharistic Lord had drawn 5,000 people out to the streets of the Mile High City.
