“It’s not just people showing up for this nationwide movement being like, ‘Yay,’ and then going home and going on with life,” Krebs said.
Participants sang hymns in English, Spanish, and Latin as the Eucharist made its way through Denver.
“For this is God, the very God who hath both men and angels made,” the participants sang as they followed the Eucharist along the street.
But for much of the procession, people were simply quiet, bearing the hot day, carrying their prayer intentions with them, or having meaningful conversations and offering to pray for one another.
More than halfway through, the procession stopped in front of the Colorado state capitol building, over which hung a pride flag. The archbishop raised the monstrance in Benediction as attendees stopped to watch and pray.
Finally, the pilgrimage reached Holy Ghost Church, a church of mosaic and marble. The original parish building was dedicated in 1924. One hundred years later, the parish, now a Spanish and Italian Renaissance-inspired building, stands firm, guarded by sentinel skyscrapers as it faces the buzz of daily traffic.
Holy Ghost participants awaited the approaching monstrance outside the Church, patiently awaiting Christ’s arrival.
After the long day, the weary sunburned pilgrims received Benediction from Archbishop Aquila, then slowly drifted into the cool building, praying quietly in adoration.
“It was really beautiful to feel the difference between the discomfort of walking on the procession and then the comfort of stepping into the church, out of the sun, into the coolness, and then resting in adoration for a little bit,” Gravrok noted. “That contrast, I think, made it even more beautiful.”
When asked about how the procession affected her, Gravrok said it reminded her of the importance of “liv[ing] our faith unabashedly and in the open, [but] not in an aggressive way.”
“The procession is not loud. It’s not loud, it’s not shouting or throwing it in anyone’s face,” she said. “It’s just reverently living your life, but making sure to do so in a public, observable way so that your life can be a silent witness for the faith.”
Kate Quiñones is a staff writer for Catholic News Agency and a fellow of the College Fix. She has been published by the Wall Street Journal, the Denver Catholic Register, and CatholicVote, and she graduated from Hillsdale College. She lives in Colorado with her husband.
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