Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Tears, ID
Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission Chapel in New Plymouth, Idaho went on pilgrimage to Our Lady of Tears as a final preparatory step for its consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
At noon on Saturday, May 23, more than 40 people from the mission chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe set out on foot in the Owyhee (Uh-wah’-hee) Mountains on a pilgrimage to Silver City, Idaho.
Five and a half miles were prayerfully walked, filled with the recitation of the rosary, a sung Litany of the Saints, and a few Marian hymns. Fr. Kimball heard confessions as the group wound its way up the mountainside. The procession was headed by a sturdy boy bearing aloft a banner of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
The journey was taken slowly on account of the many little children and was interrupted by several rest stops, so it was not until almost 5 o’clock that they arrived at their destination—the tiny church of Our Lady of Tears. There, in front of the statue of Our Lady, they sang the Litany of Loreto in her honor.
They had finished one of the last stages of their preparation for the next Sunday, when their parish would be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and those who wished would join the Militia Immaculata.
All left that evening physically tired but spiritually refreshed.
They had travelled many steps to their Mother’s shrine, but even more importantly, they hoped, many steps closer to their eternal home.
