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High time for Our Lady

Pilgrimage tomorrow. Not far, but it’s been far too long . I am looking forward to it.

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procession warfhuizen pilgrimage

Our Lady of the Garden Enclosed is no stranger on this blog. She’s permanently present in the side bar, and every now and then she appears in blog posts. Her shrine amid the fields of northern Groningen – what resident hermit Brother Hugo only half-jokingly refers to as the North Pole – is something of an oasis, a unique place of prayer and peace. Although the pilgrimage to it is short at almost 2 kilometers, the variation in wind, rain and sunlight makes for an effort that, for me, accompanies the spiritual effort of praying my way to the shrine.

The pilgrimage, which consists of Holy Mass in the parish church of nearby Wehe-den Hoorn, the procession and Holy Hour at the shrine in Warfhuizen, is unique, certainly in this part of the world, but no less among other devotional processions and pilgrimages. It is a blend of prayerful devotion and comfortable familiarity, of seriousness and familial humour. It is a remarkable phenomenon which participating faithful take seriously, and at the same time there are always surprises: non-cooperative weather conditions, a rather too top heavy processional cross, things that unexpectedly go missing… But it’s all part of the pilgrimage, just like the prayers and hymns, the sacrifice of the Mass and the physical effort. And in the end it all works out. Just not always as expected. But that’s how it works in a family too. No one is perfect, and no one needs to be before visiting Our Lady and her Son.

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processie programma

I’m travelling to Warfhuizen with a friend, but I have no plans for the return trip. When it’s time to go, it’s time to go. I’ll see when that is.

Time to recharge for a bit tomorrow.


Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

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