On pilgrimage with Jesus through Texas and beyond

Pilgrims walk the St. Juan Diego Route of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage in a procession that passed the Tennesee State Capitol through downtown Nashville. Three Houstonians walked on the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, including Camille Anigbogu.  (Photo by Issy Martin-Dye)From May 18 to July 16, I had the awesome and life-changing privilege to accompany Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament on the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage from Brownsville to Indianapolis.

The same Jesus who walked through Galilee and Judea and traversed Jerusalem and Jericho, I was able to help bring through Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama,

Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana. He just looked different, miraculously hidden for us under sacramental appearances.

This was the first national Eucharistic pilgrimage, not just in the history of U.S. Catholicism but in the history of the Catholic Church as a whole.

It’s amazing how the Holy Spirit worked in so many different people to dream it, organize it and help it succeed. Groups of young people and religious walked and drove with Jesus in the monstrance from the four corners of the U.S. — the Pacific and Atlantic, and the northern and southern borders — before converging at the first National Eucharistic Congress in 83 years.

I walked the route dedicated to St. Juan Diego, which set out from the tip of Texas on Pentecost weekend. I couldn’t have asked for a better patron — St. Juan Diego’s extreme humility inspired me throughout the pilgrimage. He used to walk 15 miles each day to attend Mass. He lived off Jesus in the Eucharist.

From St. Juan Diego, I learned to do the same. Without receiving Jesus in the Eucharist daily and spending time with Him in Adoration while walking in procession or driving with Jesus exposed in the Blessed Sacrament, it would have been impossible for me to complete this arduous two-month-long journey.

As I walked with my fellow pilgrims, chaplains and so many others whom we met along the way, I kept thinking of the lyrics of the hymn Servant Song: “We are pilgrims on a journey / We are brothers on the road / We are here to help each other / Walk the mile and bear the load.”

Anigbogu carries the processional cross through Franklin, Kentucky.I learned what it meant to be Simon of Cyrene at the service of Jesus by helping others to carry their heavy crosses, like the loss of loved ones to suicide, divorce and illness.For a few miles at a time, I sought to carry the burden with them as they found solace in walking with our Lord. At the same time, many wonderful people cheered me up and helped me carry my load, especially when I was exhausted.

I saw the best of the South on display as they welcomed Jesus. He was serenaded by mariachi in the Rio Grande Valley and New Orleans jazz around Jackson Square in the French Quarter.

He blessed the oceans of the world when a priest carried him in a monstrance into the Gulf of Mexico in Mississippi. Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament moved through the rolling hills of the Alabama countryside, greeted the immigrant communities of northern Georgia, and visited Nashville’s Broadway Street in the company of over 150 young Dominican sisters.

On the Fourth of July, Jesus walked through the stunningly serene meadows of Kentucky as pilgrims sang patriotic hymns. On the way, Jesus blessed many places that have been marred by the effects of the Civil War and racism.

Jesus desires to come to us all, whether we’re rich, poor, Catholic, non-believer or lapsed. In the span of a week of our journey, Jesus interacted with the homeless, a felon and a billionaire. It reminded me that Jesus doesn’t discriminate or care about our worldly status: He simply wants our hearts. He wants every heart.

Camille Anigbogu, one of the three perpetual pilgrims from Houston who walked the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, receives communion from Bishop Daniel Flores in Brownsville on May 19, at the start of the pilgrimage.

Arriving at St. John the Evangelist in downtown Indianapolis after 60 days of traveling was the most joyful experience of my life. My teammates and I wept with joy and then cheered for the members of the other routes as they each arrived.

Walking into the 10th National Eucharistic Congress to the applause of 50,000 was so joyful because, in the crowd, I saw the smiling faces of many I’d met along the Juan Diego route. It made me dream about what it could be like to enter Heaven: with a great cloud of witnesses — angels, saints and hopefully all my family and friends — there to welcome me and to hear Jesus say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant” (Mt 25:21).

Life with Christ is an adventure. The Church is a pilgrim Church on earth. And I had the privilege to live that in a special way this summer. Yet our joint pilgrimage continues, together with the Eucharistic Lord, not toward Indianapolis but the heavenly Jerusalem. I hope to be able to share that journey with you. 

Camille Anigbogu, a Houstonian working as a music director and musician, attends Sacred Heart Parish in Richmond.