The longest of the four routes, the route named for St. Junipero Serra, will begin with a dramatic procession across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and will see the pilgrims traverse the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains. (Specially designed vans will transport the Eucharist and the pilgrims over certain portions of all four routes.)
Jaella Mac Au, a Georgia native and undergraduate student, will be walking this route. Mac Au said she had planned to look for Catholic missionary work following her graduation, but when the opportunity arose to go on this pilgrimage and God seemed to be calling her there, she accelerated her plans. Ultimately, she said, embarking on this two-month journey meant delaying an important internship.
Despite the sacrifice involved, Mac Au said that throughout the discernment process of becoming a pilgrim, she has come to find “security in the insecurity” — not knowing exactly what her future holds but trusting that God has it in control.
Mac Au requested prayers for herself and her fellow pilgrims that they would rely on God’s love and grace throughout the challenging pilgrimage experience and not merely on their own abilities. She said she views the pilgrimage as a transformative experience that aligns with her desire to serve in a missionary capacity.
“It’s about the journey, not the destination, which sounds so silly, but I think if we just condense it, that’s really what it’s all about,” she said.
“Through Jesus in the Eucharist, it’s such just a tangible reminder that the Lord desires to love us in a very humane, humanlike way … he actually desires to continue to seek out humanity and meet them exactly where they’re at,” she said.
The Juan Diego Route:
Charlie McCullough, 22, will be walking the southern Juan Diego Route, beginning in Brownsville, Texas, just a few minutes from the U.S.-Mexico border.
A college senior about to finish his final semester at Texas A&M University, McCullough told CNA that he had a personal encounter with Christ after receiving the Eucharist at a Wednesday evening Mass his freshman year.
“I very vividly remember the spot in the church where I kneeled and prayed, and something was entirely different from that moment forward,” he explained. “I realized in that moment that there was a place inside of me that the Lord rested and was his home. That was deeper than anything else that I’ve ever experienced in the world.”
“From that moment, I kept coming back to daily Mass, and I kept coming back to the adoration chapel. And just from there, it began, this relationship of deep love with Jesus Christ, all because I realized that he was already living in me, and I was just starting to get to know him because of the gift of the Eucharist.”
McCullough said he is open to God radically altering the course of his life during the pilgrimage. Although he is getting ready to embark on a once-in-a-lifetime, cross-country journey, he said that he is most looking forward to being able to help people encounter those small, “seemingly insignificant” interactions with Christ in the Eucharist that “radically change everything.”
“My hope for the pilgrimage is that every person that we encounter has something stir inside of them that makes them question: ‘Why do I feel differently when I was encountered by this procession? … What if that is truly the body and blood of Jesus Christ?’” he said.
“I have full confidence that Jesus Christ is truly present, body, blood, soul, and divinity in the Eucharist and if the pilgrimage simply stirs questions in the hearts of those that we encounter, I know that those questions will be answered with the truth.”
Joining McCollough on the Juan Diego Route is Shayla Elm, a North Dakotan who works for Christ in the City, a Catholic ministry to the homeless in Denver.
Elm said despite being a lifelong Catholic, she has benefited greatly already in recent months from the Catholic formation that the pilgrims have been provided to prepare them for the pilgrimage. The pilgrims have been given weekly Zoom formation sessions and went on retreat together in February.
“We’re all coming from different places, all have different gifts, and I just think it’s really exciting to get to walk with other young adults who are on fire for the Lord,” she said.
Elm emphasized the central role of the Eucharist in her faith journey, highlighting how it has always been a core aspect of her life and how she believes her vocation is deeply tied to the Eucharist.
“I’ve just known for a while that wherever my life will go, whatever my path is, vocationally, wherever I’m going, the Eucharist will be at the center, period,” she explained.
Jonah McKeown is a staff writer and podcast producer for Catholic News Agency. He holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Missouri School of Journalism and has worked as a writer, as a producer for public radio, and as a videographer. He is based in St. Louis.
Peter Pinedo is a DC Correspondent for CNA. A graduate of Franciscan University, Peter previously worked for Texas Right to Life. He is a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve.
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