New York Encounter Pilgrimage and the Paris Attack

“Wow! You should write for page two! Six people going in pilgrimage via subway is something that we cannot take for granted,” said a friend...

“How did the New York Encounter Pilgrimage go?” I was asked during one recent weekly meeting to prepare the Encounter. At the end of October, we had organized a Pilgrimage via subway from the Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton to the St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Shrine, entrusting to these two saints the next edition of New York Encounter. “It was fine, but unfortunately we were only 6 people at the beginning and twenty or so at the end,” I answered with zero enthusiasm. “Wow! You should write for page two! Six people going in pilgrimage via subway is something that we cannot take for granted,” said a friend.

After a few days the terroristic attacks in Paris. Maybe it was because I was thinking about writing something, but immediately this question came to mind, “Can six people going from saint to saint via subway be the answer to seven terrorists who attacked Paris?”

I became more certain of the answer to this question a few days ago. I was sharing thoughts with a friend while walking and talking in downtown Manhattan after having had dinner together. At a certain point we saw a homeless man. “Hi, would you like some pizza?”, my friend said.
“Oh thank you! May I also have a cup of coffee? It’s getting cold.”
“Sure how do you like it?”
“With cream and sugar.”
She went to the deli and bought him a coffee and some water.
“Here you go! Coffee and some water. What’s your name?”
“King.”
“Nice to meet you, King.”
“Thank you.”

Immediately it became clear to me that the answer to Paris was not to react, but to multiply gestures where the “I” is reawakened, like the pilgrimage, or spending a few minutes with a person in need. God’s method is to choose one person in order to communicate His Love and His plan of Salvation. He chose Abraham, and then all the prophets, until He sent His Son Jesus and now He is choosing you and me.

“This guy will be hungry and cold again in few minutes,” my friend told me.
“Yes, we are not called to fix the problems, but to bring love because we are loved.”