Met you in Corbin, Ky. , I think it was in June 2009. It was a blessing to talk to you. I'm attaching the picture  my wife took of you and me. May God bless you on your journeys for Him. Like you said,"I'll see you at the end of the journey".
FRED WILLIAMS

 

By the grace of God I have reached the Shrine of Our Lady of the Angels in Hanceville, Alabama.  It is beautiful.  I arrived on Saturday, June 27.  I did not realize till I got here that it was the Feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help: like the icon I wear around my neck.  Our Lady has everything well arranged.
 
The Knights of the Blessed Sacrament have given me wonderful hospitality and I am staying with them till Wednesday, July 1st, when I will set out back north towards Mount St. Macrina, after a Solemn Pontifical Latin High Mass in the Temple of the Most Blessed Sacrament where Mother Angelica's nuns keep perpetual adoration before the exposed Blessed Sacrament.

Peace in Jesus!
 
"Greetings from Winchester, Tennessee.  Tomorrow I should be crossing over into Alabama.  All is going well, although it is very hot (98 degrees yesterday) and the ticks are bad.  The hospitality has been tremendous....."

url:  http://www.journal-times.com/local/local_story_149105701.html

Walking for the Lord

By Tonia Rose, staff writer

May 27, 2009 — He doesn’t carry money or food – just simply water and a tent.

Folks traveling along U.S. 60 Monday might have wondered who he is and why he was wearing peculiar clothing in the sweltering temperatures.

George Walters, known to most as Pilgrim George, has begun his 2009 May through August pilgrimage from Pennsylvania to Alabama.

The humble 69-year-old looks like Moses and certainly dresses like Moses. He is a man of God who sports a long patchwork robe made of white denim and sandals made of tire tread, held together by bolts and wire.

Along his journey Monday, George was spotted trekking very slowly up Cribs Hill in Carter County. While heading toward Sandy Hook, he stopped for a few minutes to talk about his mission that began 39 years ago and about his family.

“There is the body of the church and I am the feet,” he commented while standing alongside U.S. 60. “I am here to lift up Jesus. Those who must leave their family for the sake of the kingdom will get a larger family, the body of believers. My family is the family of God.”

Held tightly in his hand, a uniquely carved staff that George said was cut by the cave of the prophet Elijah on Mount Carmel in Israel.

“This staff has been placed on all holy places -– Nazareth, Bethlehem and Calvary,” he described while holding the staff high.

Strapped around his neck were several white denim pouches and bags weighing over 40 pounds. Inside those bags, his necessities – a Bible, blanket, a few other small items and needles and thread for on-the-road repairs.

George left Butler, Pennsylvania May 4 and plans to reach Hanceville, Alabama, June 27.

“My first pilgrimage was in 1970 when I walked from Barcelona Spain to Jerusalem,” he said. “I’ve been in 41 countries and walked over 39,000 miles. I am a disciple for Jesus.”

Although George is without food and money, he never fears starvation or safety.

“Only God knows where I will lay down my head each night,” he said. “As for food, I am fed daily. Folks along the way take care of me. God makes sure I receive nourishment. This morning I was treated to Dairy Queen by Pastor Clell Lucas.”

While walking four months out of the year, George admits to being a hermit the other eight months. “The last three years I’ve stayed at a monastery in Pennsylvania,” he said. “The people there gave me a house to live in and that’s where I hermit myself until time for the next year’s pilgrimage.”

However, George does enjoy a bit of modern technology, while reading his e-mails at libraries along his journey.

His yearly pilgrimage will end Aug. 29 at Mount St. Marcina in Pennsylvania. It’s a place where thousands of Byzantine Catholics from across America have gathered over the past 74 years for a Labor Day weekend of prayer, teachings, fellowship and food.

For those intrigued enough to stop and say hello to George, don’t be surprised by a firm, friendly handshake – and possibly a blessing. To read more about Pilgrim George’s journey visit www.421kolorae.bravejournal.com.

Going:

May 24 – Huntsville, W.Va.

June 7 – Williamsburg, Ky.

June 21 – Winchester, Tenn.

June 26 – Cullman, Ala. (Ave Maria Grotto)

June 27 – Hanceville. Ala. (Our Lady of Angels Monastery)

Return:

July 12 – Dayton, Tenn.

July 19 – Oak Ridge, Tenn.

Aug. 2 – Spencer, W.Va

Aug. 15 Spencer, W.Va.

Aug. 29 – Uniontown, Penn. (Mount Saint Macrina)

Pilgrim George has begun his 2009 May through August pilgrimage from Pennsylvania to Alabama. He was spotted along U.S. 60 at Cribbs Hill in Carter County Monday and stopped in at the Grayson Journal Enquirer for lunch and to read his e-mails
photo/Tonia Rose / Journal-Times

Pilgrim sent a note from Booneville (he says "yes, of Daniel Boone fame"), Kentucky on June 1st.  He further writes, "it is the half way point to my destination in Hanceville, Alabama.  A man by the name of Jack went out of his way to bring me here and then brought me lunch and a drink.  This are has been flooded out and has been declared a disaster area so that there is a lot of cleanup work being done."  He continues, "Last Sunday I was at Prince of Peace Catholic Church in West Liberty: it serves three whole counties and still has only 35 registered members; this is still "Appalachia area" which is usually associated with West Virginia.  All is going well."......

 

 met Pilgrim George today, and thought I'd drop you a note with a photo I took, and My blog post from Facebook on the meeting...

"I'm the feet"

Today, I was driving up Ohio 7, on my way to run some errands in New Martinsville, WV. A mile or so above New Matamoras, I saw a man walking South along the road, dressed in robes and carrying a staff. I thought, "Huh. That's odd", and I kept driving. Within a mile, I knew I had to talk to that man. I turned around and drove back. I got out and hailed him from across the road. As I walked over, I took a good long look at him.

He was dressed in an ankle-length robe of patchwork denim, and he carried two denim bags over his shoulders. He had a bible in a denim case under his arm, and he carried a staff with a picture of Christ on the cross at the top, and wore a painting of the Virgin Mary around his neck. His sandals were made of tire tread.

I told him that I wasn't going to stop, but that something told me I should come back and talk to him. He responded, "Praise God!". I asked him where he was headed, and he told me he was going to Alabama presently, but that he had been around the world. He said that his name was George Walter, but that his friends call him "Pilgrim George". Asked what his mission was, he said, "My calling is to walk and pray, and lift up the name of Jesus Christ. The body of the church has lots of parts. I'm the feet."

We talked a while, and I told him a little about myself. He listened attentively, and didn't seem the least bit impatient. He said that he spends eight months of the year living as a hermit, and the other four walking. He gave me a Saint Benedict medal from a tiny satin pouch he retrieved from somewhere in the folds of his robe, then he prayed over me, and we went our separate ways. Before I left, I asked if I could take his picture, which you see above.

By the time I finished my errands, I wanted to find him again, so I drove back looking for him. I didn't see any sign of him, so I figured he found a shady spot, and I went home and googled him. I found out that he's been making pilgrimages since 1970, and that he's touched thousands of people around the world. Years ago, he spent thirteen years walking through Europe, Asia, and Russia.

After I finished on the computer, I went out again, and I saw Pilgrim George walking through town. bought a bottle of water, and met him as he passed by my house. He greeted me by name, and graciously accepted the water.

I walked with him for half a mile, and told him about the problems I once had with the church, and about how I've lately been feeling as though something is calling me back. He was very understanding, and not at all judgemental. All in all, he struck me as a very happy and contented man, and one I'm so glad I met.

Before we parted ways, he said, "You know, God talks to us all the time. Do you know what he says? He says, 'I love you, I love you, I love you'".
>>>>>

I was really touched by my brief time with this wonderful man, and I wanted to share my experience.


Respectfully,

Charles Vachel McMahan

Dear Friends of Pilgrim George,

New to the blog site are the welcomed addition of Pilgrim George's Pilgrimage Journal of 2008 and his 2009 Itinerary, including a map of his intended route.  They are formatted as PDF files and can be located in the Box files on this page (just above), and on the main page, at www.raeshomepage.bravehost.com (within the box files on that page), as well!!!  Please take the time to check them out. 

--Rachel Baer   

This is the itinerary (a map is included in the pdf file)

PILGRIMAGE 2009

Our Lady of Angels

 

 

 

"Jerusalem in miniature.  A sight to behold."
"Ave Maria Grotto, known throughout the world as "Jerusalem in Miniature,"  is a beautifully landscaped, four-acre park designed to provide a natural setting for the 125 miniature reproductions of some of the most famous historic buildings and shrines of the world."....(for more, visit the web site at

http://www.avemariagrotto.com/

Our Lady of Angels Monastery
3224 County Road 548
Hanceville, Alabama USA
35007

"The medieval 13th century-style architecture of Our Lady of the Angels Monastery along with the awe-inspiring Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament would seem to be more at home in Old World Europe than in the farmland of rural Alabama.
Home to the Poor Clare Nuns of Perpetual Adoration, a cloistered Franciscan order, the monastery was built by Mo

ther Angelica, foundress of the Eternal Word Television Network. The Monastery and Shrine church along with the nearby Castel San Miguel visitors center is nothing short of breath-taking. The monastery's public area has a reception desk, where an attendant is available to answer visitor's questions. Much of the monastery itself remains hidden behind the imposing splendor of the Shrine which the Order describes as "a Temple consecrated to Almighty God, open to people of all faiths."
 

http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM1PTB
http://www.olamshrine.com/

The following story (and painting) is shared by Colleen Nelson, of Greene County, in Washington, PA.

The story she wrote is as follows:

Drivers on their way to work on Tuesday morning might have spotted a tall, robed figure striding through Rogersville, on State Route 18- 21. The details of his dress were startling against the backdrop of Victorian houses, casual American dressers and passing vehicles – hooded robe, wooden staff and thick sandals keeping a steady pace. Curiosity won out over being late for work for one West Greene resident, who found the nearest place to turn around and drive back to find out what the heck Gandalf was doing out here in the boonies, snowy beard flowing, walking like he had some special place to go.Meet Pilgrim George, not of Middle Earth, but of this earth, just passing through, as he has for more than 30 years.He had left the highway and was sitting in the flowery grasses beside the creek, drinking water from a plastic bottle and being entertained by a young gray tabby cat who was delighted to find a fellow sojourner taking his ease in the natural world. "Yes," he admitted, eyes twinkling in an open, friendly face that was weathered and tan. His glasses were held in place with tape, but the big icon around his neck glistened with gold leaf and there was a wide embossed cross at the top of the staff beside him. A rosary encircled one wrist. "I’m a pilgrim. I left Cameron, West Virginia this morning and I’m on my way to Uniontown."After more than 30 years of making the road his home, from here to Jerusalem and back, Byzantine Catholic church deacon George Florien Walter knows a thing or two about the kindness of strangers.

He doesn’t carry money or food, just water and a tent. His pouches and bags contain day-to-day necessities, including needle and thread for on-the-road repairs. His sandals are made of pieces of tire tread, bolts and wire he finds along the berm. The bottom of his wooden staff is shod in tread as well, neatly tied and tacked. On the road, those who are intrigued enough to say hello sometimes supply lifts to the next town and even breakfast at McDonalds. Passersby offer meals and showers, reporters write stories about his travels and those who ask are blessed. "For four months of the year I walk hundreds of miles. The rest of the time I’m a poustinik, a hermit. Right now I’m staying in Butler and when I get back I’ll write a summery of my pilgrimage. You can read it on the Internet," Walter said. "I stop in libraries with internet access every chance I get."

His yearly pilgrimage will end at Mount. St. Macrina, near Uniontown. Thousands of Byzantine Catholics from all over America have gathered here for 74 years for a Labor Day weekend of prayer, teachings, fellowship and good food.

Walter shouldered his pack and took up the staff the first week of May to visit shrines and celebrate holy days in the states he visited. Log onto the Internet and you can read not only his descriptive of the high points of his trek through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana and now back to Pennsylvania, but some of the commentaries posted by those who met him on the road. For many, this chance meeting takes on a religious significance that reaffirms their own faith.Pilgrimages are part of all religions, and as such reflect the universal need to seek a conversion experience – a journey that brings a life change. For thousands of years, the faithful have made the journey on foot to holy places or shrines of special significance.  The experience of walking great distances teaches that the way of getting there was just as important as the destination.For Walter, 67, his pilgrimage of faith is a global love affair. He has walked through 41 countries, starting with a pilgrimage from Barcelona to Jerusalem 38 years ago at age 29. He has logged more than thirty eight thousand miles, once traveling up to 30 miles a day, now down to a sage 10 to 12 miles through the heat and sudden showers of May through September weather.The tradition of traveling on foot is preserved at Mount St. Macrina and is honored by the many processions that take place this weekend. Ceremonies are accompanied by the singing of prayers and brightened by pilgrims like Walter, who put on the vestments of antiquity and poverty and walk their connection with divinity. "I’m living the life God intended for me," Walter said simply as he got in the passengers seat and headed to town with his new benefactor, who dropped him off at Bowlby Library and gave him directions to St. Anns Church on High Street. It was just another blessedly giving and receiving kind of day in the life of Pilgrim George.

To read about Pilgrim George’s travels, and the upcoming Optust at Mount. St Macrina, go online - HYPERLINK "http://421kolorae.bravejournal.com/" http://421kolorae.bravejournal.com/ and http://www.sistersofstbasil.org/events.jsp"

God bless Colleen for sharing this with us! It's another blessing. Thank you.

--Rachel Baer

 

Dear friends,

Please make sure to visit the new web page(s), "Pilgrim's Reflections".  I am in the process of recording some of Pilgrim George's personal 'Journal Notes'-- his inspirational thoughts.  Check back, now and again, as I add more. 

Click here: 

http://www.raeshomepage.bravehost.com/inspiration.html (page 1)

http://www.raeshomepage.bravehost.com/reflect2.html (page 2)

 

Eyes on Him,

Rachel Baer