June 2025
It does not take much to excite or enliven our small, close-knit town, here in Berlin, New Hampshire. It could be the opening of a new store or restaurant, a school victory in a sports tournament, or the arrival of a new priest or missionary. But the event that I would like to share with you all in this brief chronicle is one that not only brought excitement to our little town – but the whole state of New Hampshire!
Last summer 2024, the United States completed a National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, in which the Blessed Sacrament was processed from all four Cardinal directions to a central location where hundred of thousands of pilgrims flocked to show their love and devotion to our Eucharistic Lord. For this National pilgrimage, another religious community of sisters from our diocese, the Daughters of Mary Mother of Healing Love, participated in the East coast portion of the procession to bring our Lord across the country. As a fruit of their experience in the National pilgrimage, they desired to bring our Eucharistic Lord in procession throughout our diocese.
From September 2024 – May 2025, the sisters set out on their magnanimous task of planning and organizing the Eucharistic pilgrimage that would consist of walking our Lord in procession throughout the entire diocese of New Hampshire (which means throughout the entire state!) The pilgrimage was to last one month and they were scheduled to visit every parish and school in the diocese. The sisters did an excellent job forming the lay Eucharistic pilgrims that were to accompany our Lord on His journey, and also preparing a worthy form of transportation for Jesus on days when it was not possible to walk! (The sisters converted part of a mini bus into a mini altar where our Lord would be exposed in adoration during the times that He had to ride in the bus – see picture below for bus altar!)
We, along with our Third Order members, were blessed, to participate in 3 of the Eucharistic visits of this pilgrimage.
The first visit was made to the school, Salve Regina Academy, where we teach. We were able to prepare our students to receive Jesus at our school. The students spent the whole morning helping us prepare a chalk alfombra (carpet) for Jesus’ arrival. We greeted our Lord with Eucharistic hymns, followed by a brief moment of adoration, then the Holy Mass. It was beautiful to see the children’s excitement at knowing that Jesus was making a special visit to them and their simple acts of love and devotion upon His arrival.
The second visit we participated in took place at one of the parishes of our mission that is about an hour and a half away in Colebrook, New Hampshire. The town of Colebrook is even smaller and more remote than the town where we live, so we decided with our Third Order members that we would make this day a special pilgrimage in order to help welcome our Lord to our mission parish. The boys of our Third Order families were asked to be Jesus “escorts” or altar servers for this special visit and were so excited to fulfill this role. They brought their cassocks and even the special procession candles from our parish! It was amazing to see this little town come together to create a warm welcome for our Lord!
Then we were blessed to receive Jesus at our home parish in Berlin, New Hampshire. Our Third Order families embraced the missionary adventure and learned how to make real alfombras in preparation for Jesus’ arrival. Upon Jesus’ arrival we received Him at the main steps of the Church where we had prepared an outdoor altar. We remained there in Eucharistic adoration and then processed Jesus into the church where He remained exposed for adoration throughout the night. We gathered at the Church later in the evening to have a Eucharistic procession throughout the town.
We can only continue to pray for the fruits that are to come from all of the encounters that Jesus had during this time. Please continue to pray that the graces that were poured out upon our diocese from this special event will land on fertile soul and bring forth a revival of faith in the true Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
United in the Incarnate Word,
M. Apostle of Joy
Missionary in New Hampshire, USA
