Our Apostolate of Pilgrimages to Holy Sites

"Pilgrimage has a very deep spiritual significance; it can represent in itself an important form of catechesis. The Church - as the Second Vatican Council

reminded us - is, indeed, a people of God on the march, "in search of a future and permanent city" (cfr. Lumen Gentium, n. 9).

In the world today there is a revival of the practice of going on pilgrimage." 

(Message of Ven. John Paul II for the Fourth World Youth Day)

Purpose of Our Pilgrimages

The “Apostolate of Pilgrimages” is one of the means in which we, the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary, fulfill our mission of guiding many hearts to discover, to learn about and to love the treasures of the Church; pondering the gift of these treasures and at the same time, assuming the responsibility of guarding and serving the gift. The pilgrimages are also an opportunity of sharing and transmitting the charism that God has entrusted to our spiritual Family. It becomes a traveling school of formation and of delving into our charism, identity and mission in the life of the Church.

Our pilgrimages are not promoted by public means since they take place in a spiritual family environment and its character requires a special faith commitment, a heart-felt adherence to the Church and a disposition to walk together the spiritual, formative and familial path that each pilgrimage lays out before us.

Our pilgrimages were born by an impulse of the Holy Spirit to our Congregation. Since their origin they have a very clear physiognomy, a very defined purpose and a particular manner of taking place (spirit, organization and activities) that reveals,  in its dimensions, our charism and vision. The pilgrimages are an apostolate, not a business for us; for this reason, all of its spirit and expression need to be coherent with the purpose for doing this Pilgrimage: to grow in the love of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary, in the love and filial fidelity to our Holy Mother Church and in the knowledge of its treasures (saints, sanctuaries, relics, spiritualities) and in that context, to delve into a fundamental element of the charism and mission of our Family. Each year we choose a path with a fundamental theme that lays a spiritual map for our pilgrimages. The Holy Places and the formation that is imparted to us through them, lead us to contemplate, ponder, deepen and touch the treasures of the Magisterium of the Church and the graces that are communicated through pilgrimages to these places. We walk together as family the spiritual and formative path which these holy places mark for us.

Our pilgrimages, like all our lives and apostolates are based on four fundamental spiritual pillars of our spirituality that come together as one: Eucharistic, Marian, open to the power and charisms of the Holy Spirit, and in the heart of the Church. We will pilgrimage together with one sole heart, one sole mind, in bonds of fraternal charity and making ourselves available to edifying the path by walking in communion of hearts.

All is Prepared in a Spirit of Prayer
 

We prepare these pilgrimages with many hours of love and prayer, attention, dedication and work. Each detail, within our means, is attended to and prepared. Not only the practical and organizational details, but rather, everything is prepared with much prayer, fasting, sacrifice and with fidelity to all that we discerned is the specific purpose, reason for being and goal of each pilgrimage. All the pilgrimages in all their spiritual and organizational details are prepared with all our hearts.

We ask that you treasure and keep in your heart, like the Blessed Mother, all that will be provided to direct your hearts toward the spiritual purpose of the pilgrimage: the book that contains so many treasures, the indications, the reflections, teachings, prayers in common, etc. Above all, we ask that you guard the daily participation, as a pilgrim family, of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. We also ask that you treasure all the care and attention that has been given to provide for the practical realities that make it possible for us to be able to go in a healthy, prayerful, joyful, structured and familial environment. 

Spirit of the Pilgrimage

The itinerary was designed according to the purpose for each pilgrimage. In each pilgrimage we desire to walk together towards the Home and School of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary. To enter into the mysteries of love of the Heart of Christ through the Maternal Heart of Mary to be witnesses of the triumph of Love in our historic moment. To be witnesses of love is the particular call of the Church of the Third Millennium. This grace will be particularly granted to our hearts through the maternal mediation of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Totus Tuus!! The purpose of the pilgrimage is to enter into the treasures of the Church, opening our hearts to a profound experience of conversion, maturation, and solidarity in our Catholic identity and sending ourselves out with a new apostolic impulse to fulfill the mission that the Lord has for each one of us, committing ourselves to the New Evangelization of the world.

 In the spirit of a family, in unity and joy, we pilgrimage together, bonding our hearts like a living rosary. Being pilgrims together as a community brings great blessings, but these require options of love and sacrifice for the common good. The important thing will be what the Lord teaches us in each place, the reception to all the graces and teachings, and the personal responsibility to assimilate them and make them grow. The most important thing is not how much we see or do, but rather the maximum and greatest fruit borne in our hearts.

This fruit will be given through a path of prayer, service, cooperation with God and the brothers and sisters, the meditation and obedience to the Sacred Scriptures, Tradition and Magisterium of the Church under the direction and formation of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Each pilgrimage is done with a specific spiritual purpose and we ask that those who feel called to participate, prepare themselves adequately so that this purpose may be fulfilled.

Daily we celebrate the Holy Mass, the Liturgy of the Hours, and we pray the Holy Rosary. During the pilgrimage, we have moments of Eucharistic Adoration and also, time to pray for one another. There are moments of silence and of gathering ourselves in profound prayer. There will also be specific moments of reflections and teachings, as well as time to enjoy ourselves as family and to celebrate the gift of walking together on this pilgrimage.
 

In everything we open ourselves to the graces of the Spirit who wants to transform
us into living images of the love of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

Coming soon, links to the holy sites of pilgrimage...

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