Hundreds Gather for 94th Annual Pilgrimage to the Mother of God at Fox Chase
On Sunday, October 5, more than 800 faithful converged on the Motherhouse of the Sisters of the Order of Saint Basil the Great at Fox Chase to attend the 94th Annual Pilgrimage to the Mother of God, which Archbishop Borys Gudziak had designated as a Jubilee site. This year’s theme, “Mary, Mother of Hope,” inspired reflection on faith, mercy, and hope.
Archbishop Borys Gudziak celebrated the Divine Liturgy, with Mitred Archpriest Peter Waslo preaching. Reflecting on the Gospel for the Feast of the Protection of the Mother of God, Fr. Waslo reminded pilgrims that hope is found in Christ’s constant presence.
“The Gospel gives us hope — that no matter where we are in our lives: broken, addicted, full of emotion, doubting or even questioning, even too busy to stop — our Lord is there, not to scold us but to be present,” he said. “He is showing us or telling us: choose the better part. I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in Me will have eternal life.”
He added that the Christian life demands continual vigilance and humility:
“We Christians struggle throughout our lives with some quirks in our personalities. We must be on guard at all times. We may have problems with our emotions where anger rears its ugly head. We may gossip or talk too much when we should be listening. We may be sensitive and offended by what others think or say — and not just about us personally.”
In the afternoon, pilgrims gathered for presentations at the Basilian Spirituality Center — one in English by Gina Christian, reporter for OSV News, and another in Ukrainian by Father Volodymyr Radko, Director of Vocations for the Archeparchy of Philadelphia. Opportunities for prayer included the Rosary, Stations of the Cross, and later the Moleben, Anointing for Healing, and Blessing of Cars and Buses.
During the Moleben, Fr. Ruslan Borovyi reflected deeply on the theme of human shame and sin — realities that God accepts and the Mother of God covers with her mercy. He recalled that in the Roman Empire, those condemned to crucifixion were stripped naked to heighten their humiliation and that by receiving her crucified Son from the cross the Mother of God receives everyone.
“Mary is a blessing for us. She is the mother of our hope,” he said. “For nakedness is not only a physical state. It is also a symbol of spiritual vulnerability — the shame of sin, the loneliness of suffering, the despair in trials, the vulnerability before the future, before the world, before the unknown. Mary does not condemn our nakedness. She covers it with her veil — the veil of mercy.”
Fr. Borovyi concluded that this covering of mercy is the foundation of Christian hope:
“This is the first and most intimate act of hope — to know that in His Son, God has accepted our vulnerability, and His Mother has embraced our shame. When we feel exposed before difficulties, ashamed by mistakes, disheartened by pain, or lost before the future — let us turn to her, to Mary.”
