IN  THE  FOOTSTEPS  OF  A  SAINT
(Notes on an alumna’s pilgrimage)

(Part 1 of a Series)

          I went on a pilgrimage in October, on the month Mother Candida was canonized --- a personal pilgrimage to trace her footsteps and imbibe her spirit.  Ultimately, I found out why I wanted to do this --- I was seeking God in a deeper way, `to know Him more clearly, to love Him more dearly, and to follow Him more nearly’ as the song Day by Day goes.  And God was going to use Mother Candida for His purpose in me: wide-eyed wonder, God-seeking, heart and soul-searching, pilgrimage/adventure

PRE-PILGRIMAGE:
     My journey started in October of the previous year when the promulgation for Mother Candida’s sainthood was made public.  I immediately felt the stirrings of desire, a desire to trace her footsteps, to visit the places she had lived in and breathe the air she breathed, so to speak.  The desire was so great, the feeling so intense, and the possibility so real that I was certain it came from God.  I prayed for clear direction and affirmation. 

     Meanwhile, I was inspired to honour Mother Candida in a big way.  How?  Our alumni association in Iloilo City had started brainstorming on an appropriate activity to honour our beloved Foundress.  I suggested a musical concert that would highlight her life, her character, her virtues, and her mission.  As it happened I was tasked to conceptualize and `write’ it.  I found myself brimming with ideas.  My creative juices just flowed.  The words and the songs came tumbling one after the other highlighting Mother Candida’s simplicity, her humility, her obedient spirit, her perseverance, her love for God, her devotion to Our Lady, her mission spirit and her faithfulness to the mission God gave her.   I was awed.   I realized I was being used, wielded by the Master to proclaim her life for His glory.   

     We were able to stage the concert to an admiring and deeply touched audience in November, just five weeks after it was conceptualized.  Then it was re-staged and re-staged and re-staged, taken to Davao and Cebu to equally `starstruck’ audiences of grade school and high school students and faculty.   `Starstruck’  by  Mother  Candida! It was exhilarating to be used by God.  I vowed to bring the concert to as many venues as I could.

     When the date of Mother Candida’s canonization was announced early this year, I started working, prayerfully, on the logistics and practicalities of my pilgrimage.  It seemed the way was paved and smoothed out for me.  I could feel the Lord’s hand.  I recognized Him using people and circumstances for my good.  In stillness before Him my heart cried with gratitude.  

     And yet I prayed, “Your will, Lord, not mine;  Your way, Lord, not mine;  Your plans, Lord, not mine.  I trust You.  Be glorified in this pilgrimage.”  I was so excited that I could not help telling people how the Lord was working in my life.  They were so happy for me and shared my excitement.  I was sent off with prayers and welcomed the role of Intercessor for the many persons who asked me to pray for them at the various shrines and pilgrimage sites I would go to. 

     Two days before my pilgrimage the Lord gave me this message from my daily reading.  It is taken from John 15:11: “(I have told you this so) that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete.”   This was the message I carried in my heart as His promise.  One favourite praise song of mine (I am A New Creation) goes:  “A lightness in my spirit, a joy that knows no limits, here in the grace of God I stand.”   With the Lord’s assurances in my heart I eagerly awaited His blessings.

 

 

Part 4

Part 5