P ♰ C

November 28th, 2025. We slowly gathered in the pews of St. Joseph the Worker Parish during weekly Friday adoration.

I flitted around a bit, checking with Fr. Alfredo that our timing would still work and that we had enough copies of the Jubilee Prayer I found posted on the Vatican website. Then I took the opportunity to rest in prayer and adoration.

At 10:45am, Fr. Alfie came to the front of the church and called us Pilgrims up for a blessing and send-off. As we gathered, I was filled with awe to see that Fr. Alfie was in his formal robes. His benediction included lifting the monstrance high between his fabric-covered hands. I know I wasn’t the only one with tears of gratitude and joy forming her eyes.

As we flocked out of the church, I was reminded of the scene in Sister Act when the nuns all crossed the street from their abbey to the casino. How did I come to be involved with this group of wonderful CWL women? Thanks be to God.

Our bus, on loan from St. Andrew’s High School (thank you, so much, St. Andrew’s High school and thank you, Beth, for arranging our transportation!), was awaiting us outside. Driver Jim welcomed us aboard for our journey to the Cathedral. Cecelia S. graciously led us in praying the Rosary. I asked for everyone’s indulgence to pray the Luminous mysteries since we were on this hopeful pilgrimage. We closed our five decades parked just outside St. Andrew’s Cathedral. What perfect timing!

Happily, we arrived at 11:20am, which gave us lots of time to enter the cathedral, admire the beauty therein, find our pews and settle down, and chat briefly with Fr. Dean before the beginning of another Rosary we could join in with: this time, the Friday Sorrowful mysteries. Mass was beautiful; thank you, Fr. Dean, for your very kind words of welcome.

After mass, we walked over to the rectory lunch room to find a lovely set up with tea, coffee and water ready for our arrival. Thank you, so much, Anjali and all your colleagues who helped set up the room for our meal.

We returned to St. Joe’s on the bus with Jim in plenty of time to vacate the parking lot before the chaos of after-school pick-ups began. Again, glorious timing!

Thank you, everyone who helped facilitate this Jubilee Pilgrimage. We are all ever so grateful.

If you would like to arrange your own Jubilee Pilgrimage before the end of this Jubilee Year of Hope, you still have more than a month: the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica doesn’t close until January 6th!

For more information on pilgrimages, see my infographic (and references). For more on hope, see this one.

~ Katherina