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St John Paul II, St Thérèse of Lisieux and St Mary MacKillop feature strongly in the Harvest story since it began over three decades ago. Harvest Journeys is proud to dedicate its work for God, under the patronage of these great saints.
Pilgrimage is an important ministry giving people the opportunity to encounter the sacred whilst travelling and grow in their relationship with God. We place all Harvest pilgrims, under the intercession and protection of St John Paul II, St Thérèse of Lisieux and St Mary of the Cross MacKillop for safe passage, meaningful encounters, and faith renewal.
John Paul II became known as the pilgrim Pope because he was the most travelled Pope in history, visiting more countries during his Papacy than any of his predecessors. He was also the father of the World Youth Days, calling the young people of the world to meet together with him for the first time in 1985 in Rome. The international WYDs have been a primary focus of Harvest’s work for 30 years and have impacted a generation of young people from around the world. Thousands of Australians have travelled to the World Youth Days and Sydney hosted WYD in 2008.
John Paul II also beatified or canonised many saints connected to pilgrimage shrines that feature on Harvest itineraries, such as Francisco and Jacinta (Fatima), Juan Diego (Guadalupe), Sr Faustina (Divine Mercy, Krakow), Edith Stein and Maximillian Kolbe (Auschwitz), Padre Pio (Pietrelcina), Pope John XXIII (Rome), Josemaria Escriva (Rome), and Mary MacKillop (North Sydney, Penola). John Paul II also visited Australia several times, is remembered for his historic address in Alice Springs in 1986 to the Indigenous people of Australia, and for the beatification of Mary MacKillop in Sydney in 1995.
Australia’s first saint, St Mary of the Cross MacKillop was herself a pilgrim on many occasions as she travelled the length and breadth of Australia (often on horseback!) with a mission to serve and educate the poor. She also travelled to Rome by ship to seek Papal approval for the founding of the Sisters of St Joseph. Mary MacKillop’s love for Australia and its people, including its Indigenous communities, is written in the schools she built, the churches she visited, the paths she walked throughout Australia and the impact of the Sisters of St Joseph that endures to the present day.
In 2010, Harvest coordinated Australia’s delegation of over two thousand pilgrims to Rome for the canonisation of Mary MacKillop by Pope Benedict XVI. This historic moment for the Church in Australia was characterised by celebration, joy and hope, and captured the imagination of the nation. Written in marble across Mary’s tomb at her shrine in North Sydney are her words “Remember we are but travellers here”, reminding us all we are pilgrims on this earth with our hearts set on a heavenly destination.
At the age of 14, Thérèse, accompanied by her father and sister, embarked on a pilgrimage to Rome, where she sought permission from Pope Leo XIII to enter the Carmelite convent at a young age. The pilgrimage took them on a pathway through Paris, Milan, Venice and Loreto, before arriving in Rome. A few months later, Thérèse entered the convent in Lisieux at the age of 15 and remained there until her death at age 24.
In Thérèse’s short life, she was confined to her convent and never undertook a missionary journey, so it is wondrous that her “little way” has touched millions of lives and inspired generations to go on pilgrimage. The Basilica of Lisieux is the second most popular place of pilgrimage in France after the great Marian Shrine of Lourdes. Furthermore, the relics of St Therese have been on an international pilgrimage since 1994, travelling to more continents than Thérèse could ever have visited in her lifetime. Despite her physical confinement in the later part of her life, Thérèse’s spiritual writings, particularly “The Story of a Soul,” reflect a profound inner journey. Her ideas and spirituality traveled far beyond the walls of her convent, touching lives globally and leading to her canonization in 1925.
Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
EXODUS 3:5
