The
Shrine in the Woods
On
Pilgrimage
(Part
2)
The
story of the shrine in the woods began fifty years ago when a
Franciscan brother from Graymoor, Brother Joseph Zakia, felt led by
God to carve out a spot in the wilderness for prayer. The son of
immigrants from Syria, Brother Joseph came to the Franciscan
monastery by way of the U.S. Coast Guard, still wearing his sailor
suit when he showed up to start his new life as a Franciscan brother.
He eventually came to supervise the retreat ministry, his favorite
retreat being the “nature retreat”, a weekend of being in God's
creation, sleeping out on the monastery property, hiking down to the
nearby Hudson River. His retreat philosophy? Come and spend time in
God's creation with a verse of Scripture as your companion. "Just
waste time with God," he would say. "That's the best time
of your life.”
The
hilltop shrine was originally erected in 1964 by Brother Joseph, a
place for people to walk to, as on pilgrimage, to go and waste some
time with God. The shrine and its statue of Mary eventually were
taken over by nature and mostly abandoned. In 1994, the statue was
rediscovered and the local immigrant community became the new
caretakers of the hilltop, restoring and caring for the shrine and
making it a place of pilgrimage. In 2000, the shrine was vandalized,
the statue destroyed, apparently by someone who left a pile of
leaflets condemning Marion devotion. The immigrant community rebuilt
the shrine promptly, and the visitors to the hilltop increased in
both fervency and frequency. Sunday foot tours, special devotions,
all-night vigils and processions all found their way to the rock
outcropping in the woods. In a 2008 event, over 100 people from the
greater New York City area made a pilgrimage to the shrine on a cold
night in December for an all night vigil. Though many of the
pilgrims were from Hispanic backgrounds, the presiding clergyman that
night was Vladyka Mykhayil, an archbishop of the Ukrainian Orthodox
church. Part of his address reminded those present that regardless
of ethnic heritage, they are all hikers of a sort:
"We
are all pilgrims in this life, walking the road together on our
journey toward God. Our immigrant community is one of great holiness
and spirituality...”*
His
words remind us we are all immigrants, each and every one of us,
people moving through this finite earthly world, susceptible to decay
and sin, but pilgrims heading toward an everlasting, perfect heavenly
world where we can finally take up permanent residence. Like thru
hikers on the AT, we are just passing through this world with an
ultimate destination ahead.
***
I don't
know what happened to the shrine on the Appalachian Trial in the past
year. I couldn't find any recent information about it. Perhaps
nature had taken it back again. Perhaps vandals had struck again.
Maybe the caretakers have taken down its weathered structures in
anticipation of a reboot of the shrine next spring. The shrine has
disappeared before, only to reappear with a new generation of
pilgrims, some deliberate followers, like those with a devotion to
the Missionary Virgin Mother of Immigrants. Some, like my husband
and I, accidental pilgrims, AT hikers who had wandered off the
trail. Whether the shrine reappears or not, I'm glad we found it when we did and that I took the time to find what I could about its origins. I'm encouraged by the vision of
Brother Joseph, the shrine's initiator, and his invitation to spend
time in God's creation with a verse of scripture as a companion. I'll embrace the reminder of what it would be like to be on pilgrimage with God's word for company, His presence as
my hiking companion. After all, I'm just passing through this life and I
want the best time in it to be the time I wasted with God...
Faith
is not the clinging to a shrine but an endless pilgrimage of the
heart.
―
Abraham Joshua
Heschel
Good post, Mary. Puts me in a hiking mood. And good ecumenical reminder that someday, every tribe and tongue and nation ... I'm conflicted about using the word "waste" to describe time spent with someone, especially God. I suppose it reflects our society's view of being versus doing, where just being with someone doesn't seem like it's accomplishing anything.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree with you in that society has influenced how we view the word "waste". When I saw Brother Joseph's quote about wasting time with God, I thought of it more in the Matthew 26:7, Mark 14:3 sense (though that society also viewed waste as something negative). Yet, Jesus defended the woman's "wasteful" action as something that blessed him.
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