Growing up, my grandmother has always been a pillar of faith for my family and I. When I was younger I never quite understood the wisdom she was imparting on me, not just as a human, but an individual who declared Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior.
One piece of advice my grandmother continually repeated to myself and my cousins was “True success is measured by your ability to make the right decisions”. As a child, I smiled politely and nodded. I heard the words of my grandmother but had not completely internalized them. Throughout this pilgrimage, there was example after example of servants who served the Lord who made the right decisions. In all of their decisions, they had the Lord as their focal point and knew they could accomplish amazing things through Him.
As we stepped in multiple churches over this past week, I continued to be in awe of the work and detail they were able to create. These buildings were not built with grandiose technology, but with servants who knew their work would be glorified and appreciated because they made the right decisions. Over time their decisions would be tested with fires, wars, and revolutions. The servants continued to make the decision to rebuild to honor their Lord and create beautiful spaces to praise his name.
Pilgrimages were never talked about in church when I was growing up. Therefore, I was unaware of the churches being seen as pilgrimage locations until I started to learn more prior and during this journey. This experience has opened my eyes up to Christian pilgrimage and the destinations Christians can visit to deepen their relationship with God. I see this pilgrimage as a right decision in my life that will allow me true success in explaining the rich heritage of the Holy Cross order and the foundation blocks of Notre Dame to students, visitors, colleagues, and the worldwide Notre Dame family. As of right now I don’t know exactly how my successes will bloom into something beautiful to admire at Notre Dame, but I am embracing that process. I will look back on this process and be mesmerized at the blessings in my life that have come by making the right decision to journey on the pilgrimage.
To this day, my grandmother stills imparts wisdom to me, but today I am honored it came full circle with the words my grandmother has repeated all along. It not only helped me make a stronger connection to the University, but also reminded me to continue to make right decisions to deepen my faith and be open and aware of the blessings and successes that are on the horizon.
Written by Rochelle Upshur