Of names and journeys
Memorial Day, a unique pilgrimage, and a fleeting seasonal treasure.
I was in Boston for Memorial Day a few years ago. What I saw on the Common stopped me in my tracks. There were thousands of small American flags planted in the ground, in a solemn Memorial Day display. I later learned that there were well over 30,000 flags there, each one representing someone from Massachusetts who had died in military service, all the way back to the Revolution.
Those little flags moved me as much as any grand monument ever did. Grand monuments have their place, but I feel the lack when there are no names, or no way of indicating that each of our war dead was an irreplaceable individual. We honor our dead most fittingly when we see individuals rather than casualty statistics.
With that in mind, I’m going to keep in my prayers this Memorial Day a man who was a sergeant leading my son and others in an Army combat unit in Iraq. He died in action, a loss not only to the nation but to his family and to the soldiers with whom he served, including my son. Please join me in commending to God the soul of Sgt. Greka. It’s in his particular honor that I salute the flag today.
Something amazing is going on in New Hampshire through mid-June. You might even see it in your town. Catholics throughout the Diocese of Manchester are participating in a Eucharistic Pilgrimage. The Holy Eucharist - the Body and Blood of Christ - is being carried around the state from parish to parish, in procession with people from vocations both lay and religious. Each parish community will welcome the procession with special events anchored in prayer. (Learn more at https://www.catholicnh.org/worship-and-sacraments/faith/nhjubilee/)
For my Catholic neighbors, I hope you’ll seek out the procession as it comes to your community. For all people of good will who seek Christ, I say come and see, in a peaceful spirit.
I’ll be singing with my parish’s Schola as we welcome the Procession to our town tomorrow, May 27. When the community celebration is over, silent Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament will go on throughout the night. I’ll be there for a period of time, praying and listening in a way that’s only possible in stillness and silence. I’ll bring your intentions with me.
I spent part of the Memorial Day weekend enjoying a good long walk on the Rockingham Recreational Trail, one of the many rail trails gracing New Hampshire. How good it felt to shake off the recent rains!
I saw plenty of cyclists. I’ll bet they were moving too fast to see what was in bloom along the way. I’d never before seen so many ladyslipper flowers in a single outing. They were a deeper pink than the ones I’ve seen earlier in the season - dark enough to show the flower’s delicate veining that’s not discernible in paler blossoms.
Ladyslippers are ephemeral, like nearly every other spring flower. They’ll be gone in a couple of weeks, re-emerging next year or the year after. But what treasures they are, while they last! There’s no point in trying to cut or transplant them. They simply don’t survive such things. I have to take them on their own terms, right where they are.
One more Braided Trails will come your way before the month is over. In the meantime, may your spring bring you ladyslippers.
