The pilgrims arrived back this week tired but on fire with their faith a little more. We truly had an amazing trip, and we visited many incredible sites. In Istanbul, we continued to pilgrim in St. Paul’s footsteps. Istanbul, once known as Constantinople, was built by the emperor Constantine to give a notably city for the center of Christianity to which his mother Helen was an advocate for. While he did not convert till his death bed, he established Christianity as the religion of the empire and dedicated the city to Christianity building amazing Cathedrals. When the Muslims took over the city many years later, they did not destroy the cathedral but rather built onto it and we were able to tour inside the mosque and see the Christian mosaics still on the walls in this magnificent building. We then visited the blue mosque as it is known and the undergrounds city cistern. They are amazing buildings and incredible feats of architectural genius.

 

We celebrated Mass in three Catholic churches in Istanbul (Santa Maria Deparis, St. Peter & St. Paul Church, St. Anthony of Padua) and St. Esprit Cathedral (Cathedral of the Holy Spirit). While the Catholic community in Istanbul is small, they have beautiful churches and communities. There is only 90,000 Christians in Turkey and only 15,000-20,000 of them are Latin Rite Catholics, so it was important for us to celebrate Masses there and support them in some way. We also visited the Greek Orthodox Cathedral, The Patriarchal Cathedral Church of St. George, which was once the Vatican City of the Byzantine Rite and the home of St. John Chrysostom, the great Catholic saint recognized by the whole Catholic Church.

 

We traveled further into this fascinating country and culture and took a trip to Canakkale where St. Paul first visited to get to Macedonia. On his third journey, he spent more time there preaching. While there, we visited the archeological site of Troy, with its 4,000 years of history, it is one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world and we got a sense of the ancient history in this country. We prayed for you all each day as we traveled from site to site. Overall, it was a fantastic pilgrimage with many powerful experiences that we, pilgrims, will have to unpack in our prayer for weeks and months to come. We will certainly never read Paul’s letters the same way again. We are all encouraged to live our faith in a more deliberate and conscious way proclaiming the gospel of Christ crucified and risen from the dead in our everyday lives. We will do our best to witness the faith that St. Paul, St, John and Mary lived and died for.

 

As you know, I love to pray this prayer of silent reflection about being still with God. Here it is again for you:

Be still and know that I am God

Be still and know that I am

Be still and know

Be still

Be

I enjoy praying this outside in nature or inside at my prayer desk. Indeed, I used it many times on the pilgrimage. It does not matter where I am but only matters that I put myself before the Lord. Many of you said this prayer has been helpful to you too especially as we feel a constant struggle to slow down and be still with God. There is something profound of this prayer as it slows me down and enables me to see and hear as God hears.

 

Over the next year, we will return to this theme of “being still with God” and I invite you to join us on this journey. One way you can do this is by attending our second Annual St. Simon Parish Retreat on Friday and Saturday, October 25 and 26, 2024. It is called “Seeds of Contemplation: Be Still and know that I am God” and we will teach several different ways to pray and learn to be still in our chaotic world. We will learn how to cultivate the garden of our lives and plant the seeds of contemplation.

 

As we did last year, we will be providing dinner on Friday evening, followed by breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Saturday. I’m thrilled to announce that we’ll be joined by nationally renowned Catholic musician and composer Trevor Thomson, whose songs we sing each week. Meredith Augustin, our Music & Liturgy consultant, will also be with us for the weekend. I’ll be leading the teaching sessions, while they will guide us through music and prayer, making it a truly special experience.

 

Our entire campus will once again transform into a retreat center, offering numerous spaces for prayer, meditation and reflection throughout the weekend. It’s going to be an incredible retreat—so mark your calendars for October 25-26, 2024, and invite your friends to join us! Registration is open online here. If you have any questions, please email communications@stimon.org

 

Speaking of prayer, I invite you to join Pope Francis and all around the world in a day of prayer and fasting either this weekend or on October 7, the Feast of the Holy Rosary. As we approach the one-year anniversary of the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7, let us join Pope Francis, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa (Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem), and Christians in the Holy Land “in fervent prayer for an end to the violence, for the prompt and safe return of all hostages, and for the conversion of hearts so that hatred may be overcome, opening a pathway to reconciliation and peace.” You can read the letter from Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa here and read more Pope Francis here.

God bless,

Fr. Brendan