Companion God, as we journey through the Lands of Dominic in France, we pray for the blessing of pilgrimage. Slow us down, that we might move in your time, walking unhurriedly and thoughtfully.
Blessings of Pilgrimage
by Megan McElroy, OP, Prioress
Christians believe that God is always with us, that Jesus’ words are true, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them” (Mt 18:20). It is this belief that welcomes pilgrims to the “Deepening Dominican Spirit Pilgrimage” in Prouilhe, France.
One of the most treasured characteristics of Dominican Spirituality is the recognition that all of creation is one, a gift from God, and we are invited to encounter God in the gifts of the earth and all creation as we make the pilgrimage of life.
Our Congregation has been blessed to be able to share this gift of pilgrimage with our colleagues-in-mission, to immerse themselves in the places where the Dominican Order was founded in southern France.
In extending this opportunity to those who walk with us in mission and ministry, it is our desire to introduce them to the beginnings of the Dominican Order, to create a communal environment where they might deepen their sense of Dominican Spirituality by walking the path of our father Dominic.
The prayer Companion God captures the essence of what it is to travel the pilgrimage path.
Companion God, Sensitize us to walk with care and reverence upon the earth. Bless all who have walked this sacred path before us and all who will come after us.
Please enjoy these reflections and photo highlights from a few of our colleague pilgrimage participants.
Praying with your feet
by Dr. Mindy Hills, Director, Dominican Center Marywood at Aquinas College
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, wrote “… pilgrimage is praying with your body and it’s praying with your feet. It’s an exterior prayer, and the exterior prayer keeps calling you into the interior prayer.
Rohr describes pilgrimage not as religious tourism, but as a deliberate act of displacement — a journey that moves us out of our accustomed ways of seeing so that transformation becomes possible.
Pilgrimage, in Rohr’s framing, is less about arriving at holy places and more about allowing holy places to arrive in us.
During the summer of 2024 pilgrimage, I experienced a kind of inner reorientation. The geography itself — Carcassonne, Prouilhe, Sorèze, Seignadou, Montségur, and ultimately Lourdes — became a living text, preaching long before any words were spoken.
Early in the journey, I became attentive to a simple and significant sign: a shell. During our opening ceremony, we were each encouraged to let a shell choose us. Long associated with pilgrimage, the shell marks the way for those willing to travel lightly, trust the road, and receive what is given rather than control what is found. Rohr often notes that pilgrimage leaves us with a symbol — something that continues to teach us long after the walking ends. The shell became that symbol for me, a quiet reminder that the path itself is the teacher.
Once back home, the pilgrimage continued. The shell remains in my daily view – no longer pointing the way on a map but orienting my heart. Each time I see it, I am reminded that pilgrimage is not finished when the journey ends; it is completed only when it reshapes how we live.
Holy Holiday
by Lisa Mitchell, Director, Associate Life, DSGR
In some ways, pilgrimage is a holy holiday that gives new dimension and deeper depth and understanding of our faith, our history, and our charism.
Discovering the beginnings of the Dominican Order was an awesome experience. The most significant learning for me was Dominic’s belief that everyone has a piece of the truth. To find that truth, one needs to engage in deep listening and dialogue. Dominic modeled that for us, and I believe we need it in the times we are living in now.
Grounded in the sacred land where Dominic lived and walked in the 13th century, I grew in clarity about the Order of Preachers. Our last day in Fanjeaux, we walked up to Seignadou for the last time as a group and saw a rainbow over the fields near Prouilhe. This is the same view where it’s said Dominic saw a ball of fire descend from the sky three nights in a row above the church of Sainte Marie de Prouilhe. He called it Seignadou, meaning sign from God. This was a sign to me to recognize God’s light in everyone and continue, like Dominic, to have a passion for the truth, study well, take care of the beauty around me, and go forth and be Dominican in whatever way God is calling me!
Companion God, what do you want to show me?
by Stacy Spitler, Director of Communications, DSGR
For the pilgrims arriving in France from Dominican Congregations in the United States, anticipation is great, the welcome, warm.
During the Summer of 2025, I felt a sense of freedom and indulgence rambling the tranquil monastery grounds in rural Prouilhe. Pilgrimage time and space invite us into slowing and newness, such luxuries at a time I found myself weary.
One has to wonder if in 1206 the first followers, all women, responding to Dominic’s invitation felt something similar. They, too, were arriving to something new. The nine Cathar women gravitated to the more gentle, compassionate and loving relationship with Jesus and other people that Dominic expressed in his faith.
Today, this monastery is home to 11 Dominican nuns who open their home to pilgrims year round. Some stay a few days, others a week, some for months in ministries of service. The guest house and cottages on the grounds serve the lodgers.
For this pilgrimage, leaders Sisters Jean Goyette, OP, Mary Ellen O’Grady, OP, Fr. Richard Peddicord, OP, and Suzanne Wong revealed both the spirituality and early history of the Order of Preachers.
We were exposed to stories of Dominic’s enlightened faith and vision for a communion of people brought together in faith. In contrast, stories and visits to places like Montségur exposed the cruelty and atrocities wrought by unchecked political and religious might.
We were reminded that as people of the incarnation, Truth is available through the sense of human flesh and human nature — of bodies that remember, and want to remember, the deepest expression of Love — knowing that we all can walk in Love.
Today
Immersed in the vision and lands of Dominic, graced with space and time, and good company, the question arrived: Might every day, every meeting, every moment be pilgrimage?
God, I pray, during this treasured time with these gifted companions…
will I give myself time to rest my body, mind, and spirit?
Shall I ask the holy listeners around me, and You, the Holy Listener, for grace?
And will I give freely of the grace and gratitude bubbling up in my heart?
God bless this day.
Companion God, Engage the whole being — heart, mind, body, and spirit. Open our ears that we might hear our Dominican Family stories with the awe of children and the wisdom of those who have gone before us. When we become weary, remind us that our destiny is beyond today’s immediate worries and anxieties and bless us with gratitude.
Works in Progress
by Michael Ingram, Director of Campus Ministry, Aquinas College
One of my favorite days included the celebration of Mass in the basilica at the monastery where Dominic preached. It was in the moments before Mass, sitting in this beautiful space, that I was struck by the thought that it’s still: “under construction,” a common theme at many places we’d visited: scaffolding and undergoing renovations and repairs.
Even in our morning presentation about St. Thomas Aquinas, OP, Fr. Rick Peddicord had shared with us that when it came to the idea of study, there is always more to learn, more that Thomas wanted to study and explore and try to understand.
With this in mind, I jotted down in my notebook: Magnificent centuries-old works in progress. During this pilgrimage, conversations arose about Europe having so much to offer and teach us with its rich history dating back hundreds and thousands of years. It made me think not only about how I am a work in progress, perhaps not magnificent or centuries old, but nevertheless a work in progress. Like these beautiful churches, like these cobblestone streets, like all things, it is, we are, works in progress
Companion God, May this prayerful pilgrimage revive in us our commitment to you and our Dominican mission. With your grace we set out, like Dominic and Catherine, To praise, to bless, to preach your Word. Amen.
Imprints
by Jade Meyer, Photographer and Creative Assistant, DSGR
The world around us is constantly changing — it’s different from the world I would have imagined for the saints who walked before us. Yet, as we made our way to Chemin Saint Dominique, walking through gravel and grass, my eyes drew upward.
As the sun began to set, I looked towards the sky — the same sky Dominic must have gazed upon countless times in his travels between Fanjeaux and Prouilhe. It held the same sun that marked his days and the same moon and stars that guided his nights. Beneath my feet, the same earth Dominic’s feet walked upon, though the footprints he left behind have long since faded, replaced, now, by our own. Yes, the world has changed, but the journeys we’ve made are forever imprinted into Mother Earth.
Though Saint Dominic is no longer physically present, his spirit lingers — not only in those he walked beside but in the very ground that continues to carry others forward. Walking there, it felt as though his journey had not ended, but was quietly continuing through us, guiding us, as we looked up into the sky.
