Florida Catholic | Holidays time to take prayer on the road

Holidays time to take prayer on the road

LAURA DODSON | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT

Published: 12.04.08

ORLANDO | ’Tis the season of pilgrimage – to the holy places of heart and home. ’Tis the season of prayer – for safe travel, for peace-filled time and in gratitude for blessings.

“Flying at the holidays always makes me jittery and of course I pray – always,” said Jean Souffrant, a parishioner at Notre Dame de Haiti Parish in Miami who will be flying to visit friends in Philadelphia and his sister in Atlanta. “Around the holidays is a time of reflection, and it helps you to be with family and friends you haven’t seen. When you’re away from home – you have to pray, to be grateful for what God has done.”

About a fourth of all travel to visit family and friends takes place in the six weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, according to AAA. And the week between Christmas and New Year’s is one of the most, if not the most, popular for family vacations. This year, an estimated 35 million Americans are expected to travel to be with – or bond with – loved ones.

For many of the faithful, such as Souffrant, prayer is as much a part of travel as travel is a part of the holidays. As the season approached, Catholics around Florida shared their thoughts about taking their prayer lives on the road this Christmas and in the past.

BLESS ME FATHER, FOR I’VE BEEN DELAYED

Father Val Sheedy assists at St. Brendan Parish in Ormond Beach and is flying to Chicago to visit his brother after celebrating Christmas Masses with the parish. “I dislike going up there in the frost and snow. I wish they could come here, but the family is all there, so I go,” Father Sheedy said, then launched into one of many flying anecdotes.

“We missed our connection because we were delayed,” he said. “We were waiting for the next flight, and I was called three times by airport personnel to hear the confessions of concerned travelers.”

Alice and Robert Hofer, parishioners at St. Katharine Drexel Parish in Cape Coral, are leading their third biennial Cursillo Movement Cruise for Christ bound for the Panama Canal this season. “The cruise is a pilgrimage – we have the opportunity for Mass every day and we talk about where we saw Christ. We try to keep each day focused on Christ – it’s the faith that bonds us,” said Alice Hofer.

Although his family lives nearby and he won’t be traveling for the holidays, Luis Pavon of St. Augustine Parish in Miami travels occasionally for leisure and indicated, “I pray to get there safely.” Pavon traveled to New York City in April for Pope Benedict’s visit and in August 2007 went to Italy with members of his young adult group.

“We found a church on every corner, and it ended up being a pilgrimage. If you have a certain prayer schedule or routine, when you’re out and about, prayer becomes more spontaneous – you grab it wherever you can,” he said.

TRAVEL EXPERIENCES CHANGE PRAYER STYLES

Memories of the blizzard of 2002 that prevented Jim Januszka from getting back to work on time after Christmas have him visiting home in Syracuse, N.Y., in July now and have also changed his method of prayer. “I’m no longer fearful, and there’s no negative thinking. I do more of a positive prayer. I thank God for keeping me safe,” he said.

There is a family now – wife Cynthia and 15-month-old son Jimmy, all parishioners at St. Gregory Parish in Plantation – and when they travel, “We say a short prayer together the night before or that day,” Januszka said.

Travel, and therefore related prayer, has changed significantly for Barbara Bradley, a parishioner at Our Lady of the Angels Parish in Bradenton. She has double knee replacements, her husband, Richard, requires the use of a wheelchair and their daughter Laurel requires prosthesis. “There are challenges to walking, moving and traveling,” she shared, “but life is an opportunity and we can do it. We pray for endurance and always to accept what we have.”

Still the Bradleys find blessings: “We always went to visit our other daughter in North Carolina, but now they’re coming here. Florida is good for the way we are now. Raleigh has hills and snow and ice. Here you wake up in paradise – I have that.”

ROSARY SUSTAINS FAMILY TRAVELERS

Doris Saulle of St. Thomas More Parish in Boynton Beach and Lesley Vaitekunas of St. Isidro Parish in Pompano Beach will both be praying the rosary amidst the flurry of holiday travels.

“I pray the rosary as my family travels to me,” said Saulle. “It gives me comfort and I pray very hard for them.”

Vaitekunas explained, “I always get the rosary going – ‘It’s our greatest weapon.’ Isn’t that what Padre Pio always said? I pray for my family as they come to me, but I also pray that when it’s time, bring them to their final destination safely – their real home is in heaven.”

With 11 children and a passion for pro-life ministry, James and Ingrid Kane of Little Flower Parish in Pensacola are in the car on the road traveling frequently and their rosaries are essential. “When we travel, we pray the rosary and the Divine Mercy chaplet,” said James Kane. “When you get Catholics together, you’re going to see a rosary.” Frequently the Kanes travel with two cars, and they bring intercoms linking them through the invisible sound of prayer.

“There’s never a dull moment with God,” Ingrid Kane said. “We are on a pilgrimage to heaven. We’re just traveling through here and we give to others what God has given us.”

Denise O’Toole Kelly of the Florida Catholic staff contributed to this story.

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