Itinerary and Highlights of the Pilgrimage

Well, you guys, I've been so excited to share something and I've been holding it in and I've been waiting for the details to get ironed out and I'm ready now to share that I am going to be leading a pilgrimage to northern France next year in 2027. The dates are April 12th through 22nd. And it's not just gonna be me. And I'm so excited to have with me someone that I work closely with, Father Kenneth Parsad. And uh and he's gonna share a little bit of his story and we're gonna talk a little bit about the pilgrimage today. So thank you so much for tuning in and Father uh Father Parsad, thank you so much for being here. And thank you so much for being willing to to go with me and to venture with me on this out to uh out to France. I'm so excited. Oh it's a pleasure Justin. Thank you. Appreciate you. So um I want to start though by letting people get to know who you are because a big part of this pilgrimage is not just sightseeing to different places, uh, but really it's about seeking the heart of Jesus and about allowing him to transform us. So you're gonna be a big part of that with leading mass and and perhaps you know the sacrament of confession on a couple of occasions, maybe even the sacrament of the anointing of the healing. Um and so I I, you know, people know me. I want them, well, they they may know you more than they know me. I don't know. They know you more sure. I want them to hear your story. So take us back to to your growing up and what has led you to become a priest here in the diocese of Salt Lake? Oh that's uh that's a loaded question . Uh well um so uh I'm originally from the northern part of the Philippines uh called Abra . Um I grew up there. Um it's a it's a remote uh area. Um and uh it started uh my vocation to the priesthood , of course, started in a in a very uh early age. Uh my mom has a lot to do with it. Um she planted the the the seed. And um yeah, it's a it's a it's a long story, but I I went to I I attended the minor seminary in in our province in Abra and then continued to college and uh theology . And uh after theology I I thought it so it was eleven straight years in the seminary. Uh so you started you started that when did you start that minor seminary? At what age? I started early, eleven years old. Wow. That's so crazy because I think that's something I don't know that we have that here in the United States where you have like kids going to I mean we have Catholic schools, but not like not like this track training future priests, so that's something that's that's super unique. Yeah. I'm I mean I I I've heard that there are still very few here in the in the US. I don't know. I actually don't know. But there are some some minor seminaries in the Philippines, yeah. It's uh where they uh send uh their kids to f uh in hopes for the priesthood, but more so it's uh uh the training there is really good. You know, it's like a military but the w with of course the uh a lot of the religious aspect in it. It's uh it's like going to a boarding school with for boys, but it's a really it's religious. You know, we we do the liturgy of the hours, you know. Um So what happened after after minor seminary? When do you when did you did you graduate from that at eighteen or yeah, I so um it was eleven years straight um from minor seminary to theology. I finished the whole uh the at least the required studies for the priesthood actually. Um but then I decided um I thought it wasn't for me. I thought it wasn't my mom just you know pushing me to the priesthood and so I I left for a while. I I was out of seminary for le uh for seven years and then I decided when I decided to return, um I I got a uh an inv invitation to Utah uh because there's a need . Father Rodell invited me over here. He said that there's a need for more priests here and then sure, why not? And I tried and I'm here. And and so then excuse me, you attended seminary in Oregon. So tell me a little tell us a little bit about that. Oh yeah, so um so when when it got to the US I I wasn't ordained right away because the the protocol is uh if if if you came over here from another country or from wherever really, um you'd have to spend at least two years in seminary because it's the seminary formators who recommend you for ordination. They have to make sure that you're you're good to go, you know. So so I spent uh I spent two more years in seminary in uh in Mount Angel in Oregon. It was a good time as well. I really enjoyed my time with the with uh with the community there. It uh it's run by the Benedictines. I mean yeah, we have an abbey near near to the seminary. Um yeah, that two years. Two years and uh so that's thirteen years actually all in all. Can you imagine that it's a lot of years? It's a lot of years. Four years . Um so a and and one of the cool things, father, is that you spent part of your pastoral year of service over at St. Mary's where I was on staff and so I got to work with you and serve with you and that was a lovely thing. But then the big surprise for me, the delightful surprise for me is when uh when you started, when you came on staff and you were now the parochial vicar at St. Mary's and which means you're also the parochial vicar at Saint Lawrence and you do a lot at the St. Lawrence Mission where I I work. And uh and so we get to work really closely together and that's that's been it's been such a joy and I'm I I couldn't think of anyone better to ask, Hey I'm doing this new pilgrimage, come with me, father. I mean it's it's been a uh I I mean this. It's been a joy uh working with you, Justin. You're you're real a gift to the to our community here. So thank you. Thank you. Well it I think uh and that goes that goes for you as well and for the DAS . Um but we're missing a big part of your story, Father, and that is you know you know where I'm going with this, right? So when you were in the Philippines, I I don't know what age you were, but Pope Francis came and uh and said mass there at our um celebrated mass with you guys at in in Manila and you were chosen to sing the respons orial psalm. So walk me through that. Yeah, um that was that's prob that's top that's a top that's the best uh experience in my life really uh up until now. Maybe yeah. Maybe the of course the ordination is number but that's one of the most uh pivotal uh moments in my in my life. Uh yeah, you know um so I went to this um seminary in in the Philippines uh for college and theology, the University of Santa Tomasa Central Seminary. Um and you know, we we'd have uh because Saint John Paul II actually came to that seminary and celebrate mass, we actually have a relic of him. He used the um and we're still using the the chalice in our community that he used in in if I'm not mistaken it was in nineteen ninety five. So we have pictures of uh Saint John Paul II in our hallways, you know, and and when uh I remember my first weeks in that seminary, I would look at those pictures and I would just you know whisper to myself like wouldn't it be nice to to to get to meet the Pope and actually like serve in his mass after seven years I was given that opportunity. I don't know. Some they just chose me. Uh and um yeah, um I still remember the date. It was uh January sixteenth, uh, twenty fifteen And um yeah, it was it was a wonderful experience. Um and uh it was definitely a um a pivotal experience for me because it it brought a lot of uh healing as well in my my life. Yeah. Well I think you were chosen for a reason. You have you have an incredible voice, and uh and I'm definitely gonna put that YouTube video so we can we can all hear it. But afterwards, I I mean if you look for your name on YouTube , you see all of these news interviews and things like that. So what happened after this? Like how did how did I I I don't know. That that seems like a crazy story. I I want to hear the details. I mean uh there's also a like a backstory b uh inside story in that that you know um I was I was when I was about to go to the the the pulpit to you know to proclaim the psalm to chant the psalm uh I was really nervous I was like literally shaking I was shaking I and was yeah Yeah, but but and and I was just praying, you know, please Lord, Holy Spirit, just help me get through this. I just want the people to understand every single word. Help me try to pronounce every word so that people will understand'.s That my and and and I had another prayer though. I I um I pray that I hope that Pope Francis just you know looks at me when I when I bow in front of him and uh he did not but the the uh but the the crazy thing is that the Lord answered that prayer because i i I I was praying that Pope Francis would look at me because I was thinking of like, can you imagine just the vicar of Christ on earth just looking at me? It's Jesus looking at me. And he uh I wasn't given that . He didn't look at me. I I thought I saw him uh move his head though. But so and and and but the the Lord answered that prayer in a very different way. He still looked at me, but through the eyes of and through the voices of the thousands of people who messaged me after that after that uh you know sa after that papal mass in the Manila Cathedral, I received a lot of messages. I I did I was surprised when I I got back to the seminary. if If I I if I'm'm not mistaken, I even walked going back. It was it was a long walk going back to the seminary because everything all all the roads were closed. Yeah, so I walked and then when I opened my Facebook account and my social media account, it's just blew up like hundreds and hundreds of messages, notifications and everything. And uh yeah, it was crazy. And um it it was it j it was just an outpouring of love and appreciation from the people. And I said that the Lord answered my prayer in a different way because He's showing me, Kenneth, this is how I love you. And I I I I was I just sang. Nothing really special. Everybody sings. Not everybody sings like you . But somehow the people the people kind of like were inspired by just that a few minutes and it's amazing how the Lord can work in a few minutes starting point actually of the Christian life. Um that this this God that we have loves us so much. Our the he the our value does not rely on what other people think or what we think about ourselves but how he th looks at us, you know, how he gazes uh um he gazes uh into us um and that changes people. And that's how I think uh the Lord Jesus um changed the sinners that he encountered because he looked at them with love. Yeah. Anyway, so um yeah I know I know there's a lot in there. But uh yeah it's one of the most pivotal moments of my life. Yeah. Now you were given some record deals, if I recall, right? Um partly. Um it was uh like a snowball effect I would say. Um so I sang in that uh the the Manila you you would not believe I I I received a lot of like uh offers or whatever. Really? I'll not even uh mention those but but um I I I couldn't I couldn't actually um re um accept any of the offers and I don't want to because I was in seminary at the time. But I was already on my way out actually. Kind of like l really set me up also going out of this um taking a break from seminary. And uh I was invited to a lot of uh um a few a few of uh interviews, T V interviews, channel intervie ws, and that's kind of like where they the the music uh in um label uh kind of discovered me. Uh I sang one one song in in a uh in a morning show and then they reached out to me. When they reached out to me, I was already out of seminary. Yeah. Oh, by the way, so um all the interviews that I went to they were really sifted. Um every everything all all the interviews were um So um everything was um um channeled through my formators and he had to approve all the intervie ws. I was really hesitant, but I'm a shy person . He was like your agent. I'm not as natural as you, Justin. Uh so uh yeah, b yeah. So uh I got that uh recording label because of one of the uh one of the interviews that I made uh that I I went to. I sang in that interview a religious song and then they reached out to me. Yeah. Mm-hmm Yeah. Um it my my my main work at that time was actually in the university. I was teaching in the in the same university where I went to um and that was my main work. Um it w the the the music part was really just a side thing for me so I wasn't able to focus that much in that. I was able to to we we were able to record record a one album an inspirational one but that's pretty much it. I wasn't I wasn't e even able to do the mall tours. It was I I was supposed to do mall tours but I wasn't able to because I was just you know working I was just working the university took took a lot of money So I I it's impossible for me to find kind of like w where can I place that malt tour and but the the big thing too is that I'm shy for all like the mall tours, you know. I I think that that that would that makes my eyes twitch, thinking about like performing in malls and things like that. That's not for me. I um yeah. And just just imagining it like no. No. No . Well I, I'm'm so glad that you chose the priesthood over Maltors. So thank you . Yeah. He he was the he was a parochial vicar he he had your position um in the past at st mary's in st lawrence in uh park city in heber utah uh what what made you decide to respond to him and and come all this way out into the middle of the mountains? Mm-hmm. And uh well it's m it's his invitation, really, but there was also something um in there. Th there was a challenge for me and it's good to challenge ourselves too. And uh there was a need, that's number one. There was a need. He he really particularly told me that we need priests One of the the fastest growing we have a lot of converts in Utah. And I was surprised about that. I didn't know about that. The invitation, the need. And um here's the thing too, when when people ask me this question, I would I should I I would be honest that I really don't know. The the like 'cause I don't see the pi big picture yet. And I often say that uh no the the reasons why we respond to certain calls would be revealed in time. So I'm not yet there where I can really give you like why here I was invited. There was a need. I don't know if that's a good enough answer. They accepted me though, so yeah, but but it's been wonderful. I I mean um it's been wonderful to be here. It's a huge blessing to be in Utah, you know that Utah is a beautiful, beautiful state. It's the best state. It's the best. All the things that we can do here, you know, a lot of work too. Uh but beautiful, you know, mountains , uh we can ski, we can do everything. Hike, that's right. Uh courts in here . Uh that's um When you came to the di the diocese of Salah, excuse me, were were you surprised at how or did you already know how many other Filipino priests there are? Because I think it's something that's really surprising how many international priests we have particularly from the Philippines um who are here in the diocese of salt lake and a lot of that is to fulfill that need that we are a growing Catholic church but have very few um very few priests. Yeah. Yeah, um to your point, uh um we're growing, but and and we need of course local vocations. That's that's ideal. But for now we we have to rely on international priests and so on. That's why they they they didn't they needed me to come over here too and the Filipino priests here. Um we've been growing. Um we've been growing and I think we are we are ten right now. Uh I was uh I mean I wasn't so surprised. I just because when I came here it was a lot less Filipino priests. I think there were just four or five. But ever since I came here twenty two in twenty two it's been growing. Um yeah we we've got some uh some r um Filipino religious um from religious congregations. Um yeah . Well that's awesome. Well, Father, I wanna I wanna talk about the upcoming pro pilgrimage. Yeah and uh super excited. Me too. I'm very excited . Well thanks for thanks thanks for uh um inviting me for this one. Uh oh my uh my pleasure. My pleasure. I'm like I get to work with you every day. Like I can't imagine like, you know, it'd be it's just gonna it's gonna feel so natural and I and I'm really excited. So I wanna kinda break down this trip and we'll kinda go piece by piece to give people a preview. So this is so this trip is really it's called the Saints of France. So we'll be visiting a number of cities and really focusing a lot on the saints, walking where the saints walked, going to church, where they went to chur ch, um, seeing their lives and seeing Jesus through them. Um, and and there's some amazing saints on this list that we'll get to see. Uh, another aspect of this trip is that it's not, you know, we're gonna see a lot of different cities but we're really only gonna be staying at um we're only gonna stay at like I think it's three cities. One, two, three, is that right? Three, four cities, four cities in the course of what almost about 10 or 11 days so there will be some day trips and and that way you know you don't have to live out of your suitcase you can kind of get settled for a few days before we we get up and travel. It also gives us some time on the bus uh to to have talks, to do uh pray the hours together, things like that. So um that's kind of more of a philosophy, even though we're gonna see a lot here, it's it's definitely we're gonna be stationed in different a few different cities where we can kind of get settled and learn our about uh learn our surroundings rather than staying here one night, staying here one night, staying here one night. All right. So we depart from the US. Um part of the uh there there's a link in the show notes, it will have all of the details where with everything including where you can see the pricing, where you can see what's included, what's not included. Definitely what's included is a flight from Newark, New Jersey, over to France, but you can work with the agency that we're working with, uh, which is Select International, and you can you can go from anywhere. So if you wanna, if it's if it's more feasible for you to travel from Phoenix or Seattle straight to uh to Paris. You can you can arrange for that to happen. So excuse me, we arrive in Paris uh on April 13th. So this is a Tuesday. We'll have an English speaking tour manager, and he will be with us for the entire trip. I don't really know my way around France. I lived in Spain, but not in France. So you don't want me being your tour manager. But then we're gonna take um we're gonna take a ride to Lizzo and we're gonna visit the home of Saint Teresa the Little Flower. Now father, I know you have a particular devotion to her, so tell me about your devotion to her, why that is, what what about Saint Teresa really speaks to you? Yeah. Um I'll speak more a a little bit more about this when during the the pilgrimage but uh it started when I was in minor seminary. Uh when I was about to graduate. I was in a point in my life that I was I was struggling and uh she was just right there. Um sh her her relic visited our minor seminary. That's how I got to know her. And so it it was really out of the way. Um but our Monsignor kind of like pulled the strings for it to happen and uh a miracle happened actually with me. So I'll share more about that miracle. But it started my devotion to her. I read about her life and I identified so much with her. It's like when I'm reading, I'm reading uh her writ ings, it's like I understand what she's going through. It's kind of like a maybe we have a little bit more similarity in the personality, maybe. I don't know. I don't know. But she really resonated so much with me. So I'll share more about that during the pilgrimage. Awesome. Awesome. Well, we'll spend the night in Lizzo. But actually before that, so all of every day we're going to have private mass together. And um and so that first Mass we' bell celebrating at the Car mel Covenant Car Carmel C con vent and we'll be celebrating Mass uh led by Father Parsad. And but we're also gonna visit the oh go ahead. We're gonna say. Oh I'm sorry. This is uh the Carmel Convent that we're going to is the the convent she attended, right? I believe so. Yeah. Well amazing. Yeah, but we will also get to see the Basilica of St. Ter esa and the crypt. as well So that'll be part of our stay. We'll sleep there in Lizzo. The next day, uh April 14th, Wednesday, the third day, we're gonna go to the beaches of Normandy. So this is of course the big turning point in World War II, uh D-Day, when the Allied forces uh attacked the beach of Normandy and really break broke through the the Nazi um stronghold and that was kind of a big turning point with World War II. Um and so we'll we'll celebrate mass near uh Omaha Beach and uh I think that'll be that'll be an amazing experience. It doesn't really have there's not like a a church or relics that we'll we'll visit or saints or anything like that, but certainly a really important point in world history. Yeah, in history. Yeah. Uh we'll return to Lizzo and we'll have dinner there. We'll stay there overnight again. So that'll be our second night in Lizzo. And day four, this is what I'm probably the most excited about. I don't know about we're gonna go to Mont-Saint-Michel and uh and it is just a gorgeous place. Um and I I uh go ahead, what were we gonna say? Uh um how did you uh did you always like to uh how did you get to know this uh this place? I uh I I've always seen pictures and I just have always been enchanted by the pictures, but then I I was part of a book club and one of the books we we read, it was with a couple of other Catholic guys, was on Mont Saint Michelle . And and so I was like I was just drawn to it. So I'm I'm super excited to go. I yeah I think it'll be amazing. Um I mean yeah when you send send me the picture it was like wow. Yes beautiful we're going to and the cool thing is is that we're gonna celebrate mass at the abbey with the monastic community there i think that's what i'm s I'm just so excited about is not just seeing these places but actually being able to celebrate mass in them. I think. Yeah. Mm-hmm. How does that feel for you? Like being able to like you're gonna you're gonna celebrate mass in these flight like as a priest. Uh you know, it's it's gonna be surreal for sure. I have to keep uh you know, I have to compose myself for sure and to get too emotional, you know. Like looking around,. You know like it's gonna be amazing, but you know but more so with the people that we're gonna spend time with, you know. So Yeah, for sure. Um and then we're gonna see me, go back to Lizzo . We'll spend the night there as well. And by the way, breakfast and dinners um are included in pretty much all every day. We'll have breakfast and then dinner will be included. I think there's one night where where dinner is on our own, but other than that, it's it's there. And as we're walking around the city, you can get little bites for your lunch and everything like that. So it'll be a great way to explore the city. Uh so day day five, we are gonna stop in Rowan and we're gonna retrace the footsteps of someone I'm very fond of, Saint Joan of Arc. And uh Saint Joan of Arc was was pivotal in ending the hundred years war between France and England. Just retracing the steps of Joan of Arc has gonna be a very prayerful thing. Then we're gonna head overnight uh we're gonna head to Paris and that's where we're gonna sleep overnight and the next day we'll be we'll be at Notre Dame or we'll see Notre Dame, but then we're gonna celebrate Mass at a gorgeous church up on the hill, the sacred core, the sacred heart basilica. Mm-hmm. What are you excited about in seeing Paris? This will be your first time in Paris, right? Yeah, my first time. My first time in Europe. Oh wow. That's what this is gonna be very uh meaningful to me too. Uh it's my first time in Europe and the our very first day is gonna be in Lisou. Woo. Um what am I excited about? Paris? Paris beautiful, like I I've seen it only in pictures, you know. Some of my friends went there. I've seen pictures, beautiful. They it's they always say that that that uh Paris is the city where you get you fall in love. I uh okay, we'll fall in love with the Lord, sure . But it it's gonna be beautiful to see the cathedral of Notre Dame, of course. See the Eiffel Tower too, you know . Yeah, so a lot of things All right, so after we see all of these beautiful things, we have, I think, a whole afternoon to visit the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, um , which are all beautiful things. I really like Paris. I I I was surprised how much I really enjoyed being there. Uh but then you've been there. So you have. Oh. Yeah, but only for a f only for a couple of days. It was part of a a European trip that my family took. Um, but then that night we're gonna do a special dinner cruise on the same river. So all right. Uh day seven, we are going to celebrate Mass at the chapel of the Miraculous Medal. So we'll see the incorrect body of Saint Vincent de Paul . And then we're going to take the train to Lourdes. It's kind of a longer train ride. Tell us a little bit about Lourdes and why it it's such a significant um city. It's one of the major apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, right? Yeah. Yeah. It has a lot of following and devotion to it too. And maybe after the after the pilgrimage I'll be a Lord's exper t. Yeah. Well the cool thing is um the on Monday day eight we'll celebrate Mass and visit the Basilica and the Grotto where our Lady appeared to burn Saint Bernadette. So that'll be that'll be really exciting. Yeah. Mm-hmm . I I was at Fatima last year and it's just so uh you you really just get the sense that you're walking on this thin space where heaven and earth have have collided and and in such a unique way. And so being there and praying the rosary , if if you've never been to a a place where there was a Marian visitation, it it's really otherworldly. Yeah. And I would how I I would I would I'm looking forward to experiencing the same thing when uh when we get to Lourdes. Yeah. That night will stay in Lourdes. So we'll have so overall so far we,'ve had three nights in Lizzieux',ve we had two nights in Paris. We will have uh three nights in Lourdes . Um, and on day nine, April 20th, we'll celebrate Mass and we'll have a day of uh full of prayer and devotion. Uh we'll get to s visit the baths there in the Lord's, be submerged in the miraculous water, we'll do some shopping, and then we'll be able to join a candlelight procession uh there in the evening. I from my understanding, there's like a candlelight procession there every evening. So we'll actually get to do that on a couple of occasions, which would be really good. And then day twenty one , uh, after Mass and Lords, we're gonna depart for Toulouse. Yeah, you mean day ten? Day ten, April twenty first . Unless we, you know, get lost. It would be nice. That would be pretty nice, yeah. Yeah. Uh so uh following Mass and Lords, we're gonna depart for Toulouse . And Toulouse is famous for a couple of things. One is this is where Saint Dominic founded the Dominican Order. Um, I know that you're pretty fond of the Dominicans, correct? Um I have uh a love for the Dominican order because I was formed by the Dominicans for my college and uh theology. So uh yeah, I have a special love for of of the Dominican order, uh Saint Dominic and Saint Thomas Aquinas . I mean that that's my the the university where I attended was uh uh University of Santo Tomas. So And speaking of Saint Thomas, we're gonna see the Jacobin Church where St. Thomas Aquinas is buried. So this would be really cool. I didn't realize he was buried in in France. And so yeah. Yeah. Me too. I didn't know that the I mean I should know I should have known maybe that he founded the Dominican Order here in Toulouse. But um yeah, when when I saw this, like wow, that's gonna be wonderful. Yeah. So this truly is a a trip where we get to journey with the saints and of course journey with Jesus and see Jesus through the eyes of the saints. Um the next day is our our trip back uh to the U.S. So that'll be the eleventh day we'll return back to the US and um and you know, we'll say farewell to each other. But I think I I anticipate that through this we're going to make lifelong friends. Yeah, because we're gonna be pilgrims and uh pilgrims together in in northern France and uh we'll bond together for we'll be together for like eleven days and we'll get to know one another. And uh maybe Justin uh, uh of course the people we're inviting are are a lot of them are gonna are are gonna wanna uh they w they wanna hear you speak, you know. And uh maybe you can mention how you're and what Yeah, so great, great question. I th so w what I think will probably work best is we have these kind of longer bus rides together. And what I envision happening is we can start the bus ride with um praying the liturgy of the hours together. I think that would be really cool where we have the the left side of the bus saying and the right side of the bus doing one thing, one side of the bus following me, one side of the bus following you. And uh and and pray the hours that way. I've really enjoyed, you know, we've added um the lauds to our 8 a.m. mass at St. Lawrence and I've I just I really enjoy it. There's sometimes it's just a handful of people that stick around, but it's um a beautiful way of starting our day. And um, and so that's what I anticipate. But then after that, that'll be a time where uh we'll we'll do a little bit of a talk on a particular Catholic topic. Uh maybe one day I'll share my story, another day I'll we'll talk about some aspects of the sacramental world or you know things things like that. I actually uh one of the things I'm hoping to do is to get some input from those who will be coming on the trip on what topics they would like me to hear, you know, like to hear. So they want to hear a a talk on the Deuter onom Canonicals and why we should trust the seven bo seven Deuter al books. We can we can do that. Or if we want to talk about um the four Marian dogmas, uh you know, how to talk to Protestants about Catholicism, things like that. And I I want to stress that this trip is open to Catholics as well as maybe people who are Catholic curious, as well as people who are on their way into the Catholic Church. A wonderful way of preparing for the sacraments of initiation is through pilgrimage and it's part of that journey and that pro cess. Yeah, wonderful. But I'm also pushing to get a concert with that that you will give us. Um there's one condition. You should you should also be joining me there in the concert. Justin uh for you guys, Justin is also a fantastic musician, okay? He's like Jack of all trades. That's why I said that he's uh I'm building up here now. But it's true . Justin is so is one of the most talented, most talented individuals, and uh and it's a blessing that he's he's uh he's using his tal ents for our church. Yeah. So um he's a fantastic musician as well. So there's one condition. I'll do that only if you also do it. I'd be delighted. I'd be honored. Yeah. We'll do a we'll do a little duo concert together. So that'll be so fun. Um so that uh that's the pilgrimage. A couple of little logistical details. So like I said, go to the link on the in the show notes. All of the details are there. But we'll also have a informational gathering time, a Zoom call where you can ask questions with the group people. There's a lot of things that we don't know, uh, just because we're we're we're leading the maybe spiritual aspects of the pilgrimage but the logistical aspects that's that's all um something that this organization select international is doing so far I've been super impressed with them um and uh the last thing I want to do is lead people to Europe and get stranded somewhere. So uh so I've been really pleased with the responsiveness and the details um that they've put together and the in the way that they know these trips uh inside and out. Um but they'll be able to answer a lot of questions that you have. You can also call them and ask any questions about, oh, what's included, oh, I have these dietary restrictions , all of those things they'll be able to iron out for you for sure. Um and and again, uh the the most important thing is if you have a need, please make sure that you let them know so that they can um make accommodations and arrangements for you ahead of time. And they'll be more than willing to do that. And then the other thing that I want to do is leading up to the pilgrimage, I would love us to have some periodic I plan for us to have some periodic Zoom calls for anyone that can make it where we can we can just kind of get to know each other just very very briefly, but also spend time praying together and preparing our hearts for the pilgrimage. It's kind of like mass, right? Like you get out what you put in and preparation is a big part of pilgrimage. If you're just coming in and you're not really prepared, um that you that's what you're gonna get out of it. But if you come in with this kind of expectation and this open heart, uh God, please please work in my heart. Uh it's amazing what he does. And I'll just share a briefly a pilgrimage I took last year as I was going through a personal crisis, uh, I think it was in early March of 202 5 . I went to I I I went to Spain to help some friends move to Spain, but they actually lived right between Santiago de Compostelo and Fa Fatima. And so I got a chance to to go there. And I just took it as an opportunity every day I'm gonna go to daily mass. And oh I'm I told them I was like my goal is to help you move, but also to go to Santiago and to go to uh to Fatima. And I and I would say that there was really no moment uh that was like this eureka eye-opening moment for me. It was it wasn't like this the fireworks or anything like that. Even at Fatima, it was very, very subdued. But it it was all the little things that happened in that time that really added up. And when I came back, I realized, oh my goodness, I'm a really I'm a changed person. And even someone at St. Mary's that we work with said to me, Justin, when you came back from that pilgrimage, you were a completely different person than when you left. And I was like, wow, I didn't realize that, but it was just that time that that Jesus was working on my heart. So I I think that's the power of pilgrimage. Father, please what what are your thoughts and and close us out with that. I mean well said there's not much to say after what you said. But uh I'm I'm really excited for this uh trip. Um I mean even the Lord Jesus went on pilgrim pilgrimages to Jerusalem. So it's a wonderful way really to it's a spiritual um pil um pilgrimage. It's a spiritual journey with people, with our baggages, with everything that we have. And uh yeah, as you've mentioned we're gonna it's it's a journey to the heart of Jesus, right? And um yeah, we'll be um we'll be transformed by this pilgrim, pilgrimage, um, but we have to prepare. And uh yeah. I love it. I love it. I'm super excited. I'm super excited to o. So Saints of France pilgrimage with myself and Father Parsade on April 12th through 22nd 2027. We hope that you will be there as well. God bless you guys .