This has
been a wonderful pilgrimage. Though I can’t entirely wrap my mind around the
amount of time I’ve spent on it, it’s great to look back at all the blog posts,
and to consider the number of Masses I’ve been to because of them. One of the
biggest reasons for my doing this was to get myself to Mass more often, and my
love of the Mass and the Eucharist has definitely grown as a result.
On the
non-spiritual side, I’ve really grown in knowledge of, and appreciation for,
the state of Rhode Island, which I am not a native of. I’ve now driven all over
the state extensively, and I’ve seen so much of it that I feel at home in a way
I never did before. Every time I hear about or drive by a church, I can now say
that I’ve been there, and I can almost always remember what it looks like and
roughly when I went there.
My most
obvious takeaway from all this is that we have a lot of beautiful churches in
this state, and we’re lucky to have them and shouldn’t take them for granted.
The biggest thing that spurred me to do this was the desire to spend more time
sitting in the peace and quiet with our Lord, something which I don’t spend
nearly enough time doing.
It’s also
worth pondering that as dysfunctional as the world might seem, we have
thousands of people faithfully attending Mass every day in just this one little
state. There must be a ton of grace flowing from that, in a way that we’ll
never understand in this life. There’s something beautiful and comforting about
remembering this as I go about my day.
Lastly, if
you’re looking at a post about a church that you know anything about, I would
really enjoy hearing more about it in the comments. I’ve often said that I’m
one of the last people who should be doing a blog like this, since I know very
little about art, architecture, theology, or Rhode Island history. I know that
I’m missing a substantial amount of the interesting information about these
churches, and the more I learn the better.
Thank you so
much to everyone who’s been reading this. God bless!
Greg