While hiking to the Cross in the Woods in northern Michigan, local young adults experience God in quiet reflection, prayer

INDIAN RIVER, Mich. — American Trappist monk and writer Thomas Merton once said going on a pilgrimage “is the symbolic acting out of an inner journey.” 

“The inner journey is the interpolation of the meanings and signs of the outer pilgrimage,” Merton wrote in “The Solitary Explorer.” “One can have one without the other. It is best to have both.”

Young adults from the Archdiocese of Detroit had the opportunity to put Merton’s words into action during a pilgrimage July 23-25 to the Cross in the Woods in Indian River. 

For those participating in the pilgrimage, which included rain, 13.5 miles of trail and physical pain –– including encouragement from chaplain Fr. Adam Maher from the Diocese of Saginaw to walk the last mile barefoot –– the journey was, as Merton wrote, an important and inseparable marriage of the inner and the outer.

The pilgrimage was originally intended to take place last year, said Patrick Howard, young adult and campus ministry coordinator for the Archdiocese of Detroit, but was postponed because of the pandemic. The weekend of fellowship, hiking and prayer included 51 young adults, 18 of whom were from the Archdiocese of Detroit, with the remaining pilgrims coming from the dioceses of Lansing, Saginaw, Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo. 

The young adults began congregating on Friday night, Howard said, but didn’t embark on their miles-long hike along Mullett Lake to their end goal, the National Shrine of the Cross in the Woods in Indian River, until Saturday. 

The one-day pilgrimage reached its conclusion at the foot of the “The Man on the Cross,” a crucifix weighing seven tons and standing 28 feet tall from head to toe. Christ’s outstretched arms reach 21 feet. Pilgrims are invited to walk up the stairs that scale the side of the cross, and many do so on their knees in an act of penance. 

For those on the hike, it was a moment to step back in simplicity and engage in quiet reflection. 

“Even though you feel so tired and want to stop and slow down, the people around you are looking to you to help motivate them. It is a communal thing,” said Czeena Devera, a young adult from the Archdiocese of Detroit. 

Devera, an editor for a children’s book publisher, was attracted to the hike as an opportunity for fellowship and camping. But as pilgrims shared their experiences around a bonfire at the end of the hike, Devera was particularly struck to hear one man liken staying committed to the walk to his own walk in faith.

“If you stop, the person next to you will probably feel like they need to stop, too, and feel less encouraged to continue at their pace,” Devera said. “You don’t know who you are motivating, so you should continue staying true to your faith.”

Devera reflected upon her own work industry, especially on how difficult it can be to be a Catholic living in the world, but not of it. 

“It is hard to stay true to your morals and do the work that your job expects you to do,” Devera said. “I had to have hard conversations with my bosses and had to finally just be more myself and not try to live this double life. (What the other pilgrim said) helped me. It motivated me to continue to be myself in all areas and not separate work life from personal life ... because I don’t know who I will be inspiring or motivating in the workplace.”

Chloe Langlois, 25, attended the hike alongside her fiance, Efrén Muñoz. She told Detroit Catholic that the night before the hike, the group began to mentally and physically prepare for the possibility of thunderstorms, deciding to continue on with the hike regardless of the weather. Ultimately, the group experienced light rains on and off but no serious storms. 

“That was powerful: the amount of prayer that was going up and was received,” Langlois said. 

For Langlois, the whole experience was one of trusting God and being willing to follow through with their hike, even when they were uncertain of what was to come. 

“Encouraging each other and literally walking with each other was really empowering,” Langlois said. “Being in nature and by being active, you see God’s creation all around you and see His beauty. It was a good setting for reflecting on God the Creator. I needed to take some time with God, to refocus my priorities, and invite Him into my every day.”

The hike, even in all of its physical difficultly, put God at the forefront, Langlois said, and allowed her to step back from her busy work life and grow in appreciation for His creation.

During the quiet prayer she took at the beginning of the hike, Devera reflected on how lately she has struggled with impatience, something unusual for her lighthearted, happy persona. 

“In that silence as I was walking, I heard God say, ‘Czeena, you are go go go — you keep running to me but you don’t need to run to me. All you need to do is be still. I am right there with you,’” Devera said. “It was so simple that I never even thought of that until I had to slow down and be in that silence.”

With her phone on airplane mode, Devera said she was able to appreciate the beauty of God’s creation around her, even in the rain. 

“Most people would say, ‘It’s terrible that it’s raining,’ but I always like to see it through the lens that it is still beautiful and it can make you feel more with God,” Devera said. “You really truly see God’s creation even in the raininess and dreariness.”