Support and encouragement from numerous people has been an enormous gift to the birthing of these pilgrimages.Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this journey. It’s been a gift to us, our pilgrims and the people in Italy who so lovingly serve our groups.

I was in New Mexico attending our third and final Living School symposium with 180 students from around the world and our teachers Father Richard Rohr, Cynthia Bourgeault and James Finely. As a part of our completion for the course we had a final project to present. It was to contain the teachings of contemplation, be of service and use our gifts and talents.

Through discernment, prayer and support of our teachers, my Spiritual Director, John Griffith and Ken my husband, I created a proposal for a pilgrimage to Assisi, Italy.

When I turned the corner at the hotel that weekend in New Mexico, there was Judith, a fellow student with her arms open wide for a hug, a huge smile asking me “When’s Assisi. How many people do we need?” I told her, “we need one, one person is all we need.” She said “You have one.” The rest is history. It’s incredible what one yes can do. Thank you for your yes Judith! That’s Judith with me under the Carla sign. Her joy is palpable!

This year we had a number of people with only smart phones, by the end of the pilgrimage they all knew how to use their phones cameras. Joanne had just gotten her phone a few weeks before we left Calgary because we promised her we would teach her to use it. She was in her 80’s and more than eager to learn.

There was an overall desire in our group of women to find a field of poppies in our travels. On our day trip to Spello our driver drove by a gorgeous red field and everyone started shouting “Oh, poppies.” He loved our excitement and said “on the way back to Assisi we will stop in that field.” True to his word he brought us back to the poppies, the light was soft and we were all thrilled to spend time photographing them. You can see Teresa in the white hat surrounded by gorgeous red poppies.

 Our drivers and guides understand us now. At first they wanted to get us to places quickly, to tour quickly and for us to follow quickly. One of them told me “Delores, your people don’t know how to follow.” I laughingly said, ” We are a contemplative group and we are here for ten days. We are not in a rush.” I then told him about our Contemplative Photography process. After a few minutes I saw him pointing out the small details to a few of our pilgrims. Even our Italian guides have slowed down. We invite them to eat with us, to pray with us, to have a drink with us and to create art with us if they want to. They are an amazing addition to our experience.