Many thanks to our guides and drivers and all who made Spain 2010 possible.
This is our prayer.
A Pilgrim’s Prayer
Response: Lord may I remember that I am a PILGRIM not a tourist.
If some things do not happen as they are scheduled…
If I should get tired and inclined to become short tempered…
If my meal in a foreign country may not be to my particular liking…
If any delays should occur and I should become anxious…
If some other pilgrim is making noise so that I cannot hear the guide…
If someone takes a better seat or a more choice place…
If the person in front of me buys that last item which I really wanted…
If I should get a chance to help another person who always seems to be annoying me…
If someone is always the “last one on the bus” and I am always on time…
If I can’t unlock the door to my hotel room or turn on the lights…
If I arrive at the hotel, but cannot get off the bus because the driver has to spend 20 minutes to get the bus through the main gate (and is applauded for his efforts)…
If I should fall into a sheep pen…
If they give me more food than I asked for or can possibly eat…
If I may not know when, where or what I will eat…
If there are longer lines and more pilgrims than I prefer…
If I have to scour the souvenir shops for postcards of pictures I was not allowed to take…
If the bed I was given was short-sheeted and I thought the housekeeper had put the sheets on wrong…
If my laundry is hanging all over my room and a guest enters…
If I am forced to wear damp clothing because my laundry did not have time to dry properly…
If the sewer backs up and you have to change rooms…
If I am missing home and the routine and security of daily life…
If the hotel room is too hot and I can’t figure out how to turn it down…
If I cannot reach the shower head and the shower curtain will not remain in place…
If I have to learn new yoga moves to keep water in the tub because there is a shower head and no curtain…
If my toothbrush, toothpaste and mirror are accidentally dropped in the toilet at 2:30am by my roommate…
If my suitcase will not close because I have added several bottles of Lourdes water, wine and souvenirs…
If I feel unsettled, disoriented or even lost and not knowing where God is calling me…
If I feel imprisoned by bus, airplane, schedule, time zones, food, language, life circumstances, physical abilities, exhaustion…
If I am suffering and in need of healing may I ask in faith.
If I feel discontent and not know where I am going, help me to seek direction from you.
But Lord, especially let me remember that what I find objectionable in another is really what YOU often find objectionable in me and let me remember this and forgive the other as YOU are constantly forgiving me.
If I feel saddened that our pilgrimage is coming to an end or anxious about returning to daily routine may we remember that heaven is our final destination in the communion of love in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
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