Hiking Towards Our Lady

After adoration and morning prayer at St. John Paul II Seminary last Saturday, we rushed downstairs, grabbed sack lunches, and piled into cars. Our destination? Emmitsburg, Maryland, where we would make a pilgrimage to the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and the National Shrine Grotto at Mount St. Mary’s University, with a mountain-view hike between the two pilgrimage sites.

Seminarians from three different dioceses packed into my car, and conversation filled the hour-and-a-half trip. As a first-year seminarian, I love to hear other seminarians' stories and what led them to discern the priesthood.

We began the pilgrimage with Holy Mass at the tomb of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, who was the first canonized saint born in the United States. She had a national impact on Catholic education in America, not to mention a personal impact on me. She was a convert to the Church, and so am I. I feel a connection to her conversion, which was fueled by her desire for the Eucharist. My Catholic education was also crucial in my conversion.

She impacted our grotto visit too. Having lost her mother at an early age, she felt great comfort in knowing the Blessed Virgin was truly her mother. She asked the Blessed Virgin Mary to guide her to the true faith before joining the Catholic Church later in life. This start of our pilgrimage guided us toward Our Lady.

Then began the six-mile hike. Early on we stopped at our first checkpoint where we were gifted some pink lemonade. At that point, most of us (myself included) were thinking that this hike would be a breeze. Then came the first bit of incline—I soon realized the difficulty of long-winded conversations. At the second checkpoint a very kind family set out water and croissants for us. I was convinced that the pastry was trap—a bad idea at the start of a hike—but it was so very good.

We were told this would be the hard part of the hike, as the mountain ascended from 650 to 1,300 feet in a very short distance. Once we started, everyone went at their own speed. I recently tore my ACL and soon fell behind but at least one brother always stayed by my side. That support gave me the confidence to push on. My brothers’ help reminded me of the watchfulness and protection of St. Joseph, who had been the subject of Fr. Griffin’s homily a few hours earlier.

We finally reached the lookout point: a beautiful spot on the mountain where we could see as far as Gettysburg. There we prayed the Canticle of Daniel, a beautiful ode to Our Lord’s creation glorifying Him.

When we made it down the mountain we entered Mount St. Mary’s Cemetery and the trail leading to the grotto—a place of powerful devotion to Our Lady. We prayed a group Rosary and consecrated ourselves to Our Lady. What better way to culminate a day-long hike than with growing closer to Mary?

Our Marian-focused weekend ended with the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary where in the Gospel reading we are called to resemble St. Joseph and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in accepting Mary into our homes. May we, as they did, persist in difficulty, trusting that in order to grow closer to Mary we must simply receive her as our mother.

Mr. Rojas is a 1st Pre-Theology seminarian for the Archdiocese of Washington.