Pilgrims accept what is given them . . . As a pilgrim, life gets simpler and the mind becomes clearer. The heart loses its hold on what is left behind and resonates more and more with the beauty of what is.

Joyce Rupp, Walk In a Relaxed Manner: Life Lessons From the Camino

The bishop's office is located on the Washington National Cathedral grounds, 59 gorgeous acres atop Mount St. Alban in Washington, DC. I walk by the Cathedral nearly every day and I am blessed to lead worship services there on a regular basis.

"Where is your favorite place in the Cathedral?" someone asked me recently, and I had to confess, "I haven't spent enough time in the Cathedral to have a favorite place." "Do you pray there regularly during the week?" another asked, and again, I said, with regret, "No. I almost never attend the daily services or stop on my own to pray." "Whenever you have a free couple of hours," Joe Luebke, Director of Horticulture at Washington National Cathedral has invited me more than once, "I'll show you the treasures of this place."

A free couple of hours? In my dreams.

But then both my husband, Paul, and our dog-walker were out of town during the same two weeks. And so Toby, our 9-year old puppy, needed to come to work with me every day. And every day he needed to walk. On those walks I saw the Cathedral grounds as if for the first time. We explored the Bishop's Garden, walked the wooded trail behind St. Alban's School, and strolled the hidden paths behind the Cathedral. Each walk felt like a pilgrimage. How did I not have time for this before?

Then the Cathedral Center for Prayer and Pilgrimage invited me to schedule a half-day pilgrimage at the Cathedral as part of this summer's People of the Way. My first response, I confess, was, "I don't have time." My second response, as Toby and I walked, was "What a gift that would be."

If you have time, and especially if you don't, I invite you to join me on Friday June 29 from noon to 4:00 as we walk in a relaxed manner and see Washington National Cathedral again for the first time. And wherever you are this summer, may God give you the grace to be a pilgrim and see with new eyes the beauty that surrounds you on every side.

Faithfully,

Bishop Mariann