Volunteers do their bit to make the whole thing a success
Western Catholic Reporter (CCN)
Ominous-looking clouds gathered in the direction of the Skaro Pilgrimage site as my wife Nora and I headed out from Edmonton for the annual Marian pilgrimage late in the afternoon of Aug. 14.
At Skaro itself, all was dry, and it stayed dry throughout the evening of prayer and liturgy as the usual crowd of several thousand came to celebrate the vigil of the feast of Mary's Assumption.
Over the past 35 years, I've been privileged to attend the pilgrimage at Skaro at least 10 times, the frequent passage of transport trucks disturbing, but not breaking, the prayerful calm close to the grotto. The trucks are a reminder of the world to which we will return after these few hours; the pilgrimage site a touch of heaven itself.
A large number of volunteers do their bit to make the pilgrimage a success.
Skaro clings closely to its origins in 1919 among the Polish settlers of the area, although the crowd and the volunteers are now multicultural. It was the Polish settlers who built the miniature replica of the grotto at Lourdes, France. Today their grandchildren and great-grandchildren remain faithful to the cause.
On pilgrimage day, the grotto site is spotless as are the cemetery on one side and the small church on the other. The event is run with military precision. At exactly 6:30 p.m., a couple of dozen priests go to their posts, and confession lines form immediately. At 7 p.m., the rosary begins; at 7:30, it is Vespers sung in Polish.
At 8:02 p.m., the long procession for Mass begins. Msgr. John Hamilton, this year's celebrant, began his homily saying, "Life is full of surprises," and noted that he had prepared his homily on the readings for the feast day Mass on Aug. 15, not on those of the vigil Mass. Unperturbed, he delivered his planned homily.
After Mass came the candlelit Eucharistic procession which wound around behind the grotto and then back up to the top.
The candlelight procession is Skaro's trademark, a beautiful carrying of the candles in the dark to cover the grotto. It's not as large as the procession at Lourdes, but, in my view, more beautiful, as the candles flicker against the darkness of an Alberta summer night.