Given that the Church celebrated St. Faustina Kowalska’s feast day on Friday, this reflection from her diary, Divine Mercy in My Soul, is as beautifully powerful as it is shocking, were it not for the words of our Lord: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:24-25) …and when crucifixion is not a meaningless idea for our Lord or for those who follow Him:
in order to encounter God where he has revealed himself, where his grace has shone with particular splendor and produced rich fruits of conversion and holiness among those who believe.” When making some sort of physical journey to a holy place, we live out, in a metaphorical way, what we live out every day of our lives: seeking to encounter God as He comes to us, and (hopefully) getting closer and closer to the Home of our Heavenly Father. This same idea was reiterated by both Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Francis. That being said, it wasn’t till spending a few days walking the Camino to Santiago that I really began to understand that our lives are basically one big pilgrimage. 
Priest in the Piazza 