The Church Wanderer

Iglesia de San Salvador de Vilar de Donas in Spain.
From the Propaedeutic Year Camino de Santiago in 2024.

One of the most memorable Mass sites our group of Propaedudes stopped at, a little ways off of the Camino path.

Thanks to our ragtag crew's daily method of making the pilgrimage, our front-runners made the ask in their best broken Spanish, and the rest of us slower stragglers of the middle and rear of the pack eventually meandered into the church, all while our speedsters kept the church watchman placated with the promise of our priest's arrival.

It took a fairly lengthy amount of time, but when Father arrived and we were able to celebrate Mass, the tension and memory of the prior wait fell away, and we shared some laughter across the language barrier as the man spoke to one of our more accomplished translators afterward.

Living stones in the midst of ancient ones, still made welcome into a unique communion all these centuries later.

Pax Christi,
Miguel Angelo

⛪Saint Thomas Aquinas in Zanesville, Ohio.
From the wandering through Pennsylvania that opened this month.

I've found that God likes to sprinkle a lot of perfectly timed moments in my wanderings, in my discernment, and really just generally in my life.

I set my initial navigation to this church to start my long drive to and past St. Michael's Basilica, and finding the doors locked upon my arrival, I sat in my car trying to decide whether to move on to St. Vincent Archabbey or simply further on for the rest of the 9 hours.

Thanks to Steve, who works for the church and happened to be there that day, I ended up being able to set foot inside for the first time in nearly 10 years as he invited me in.

The last time I was at this church was on the way to a Steubenville Conference back in high school with St. Gertrude Youth Ministry - something that feels a lifetime away.

Indeed, the church has greatly changed in appearance compared to the one dark and somewhat blurry photo I took on my cellphone all those years ago, but it's strange just how much it has remained in my memory.

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Something I was reflecting on as I made this trip and pseudo-pilgrimage was how often God injects such lifegiving moments into the periods when I need them most.

If I'm allowed to be a bit vulnerable here, I've been a bit in my head recently, feeling like a "lone wolf" and cut-off in some aspect of my relationality to the Church and Her members. Perhaps there's some adjustment going in and out of the seminary environment at play as well, but it felt heavier than normal.

In contrast to my perceptions, each day of my wanderings on this trip had one or multiple moments where I was welcomed in and felt a great kinship to the local church, and this particular instance from the first day was no exception.

It's always a marvel to reflect on how often I can sincerely say, "this was what I needed right here and now." and to have an opportunity to give thanks to God.

And there's the challenge to myself yet again to truly imbibe a eucharistic posture toward what's been given. Maybe that challenge is also for you in this Lenten season.

Pax Christi,
Miguel Angelo

Igreja de Sao Pedro in Óbidos, Portugal.
From the Te Deum Pilgrimage of 2025.

In honor of the Chair of Saint Peter, the unbroken succession and symbol of unity.

Pax Christi,
Miguel Angelo