John Sullivan of Watertown, Connecticut, prepares his soul for the two great feasts of Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday just as his fellow Catholics do —with prayers and sacrifices — but adds an additional preparation. About halfway through Lent, John leaves his car at home a few times a week so he can walk to and from his workplace, 10 miles away. Commuting on foot is not John’s Lenten penance; it is training. On Friday of Easter Week, John will leave his house at around 4 in the morning to begin an even longer walk: to the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, more than 50 miles from his door. It is a tradition John began 14 years ago to express his gratitude to God for three very special blessings. John and his wife, Robin, were married in 1993. The couple was always open to life, and after waiting two years to conceive, they sought medical counsel. A doctor examined Robin and declared nothing wrong with her. After two more years, John and Robin made their first pilgrimage to Eden Hill to pray for a baby. John’s sister, Sr. Veronica of the Divine Mercy, SV, had suggested the trip. John did not know much about the Divine Mercy message or St. Faustina, but in 1993, his sister and their parents had gone to the Shrine for the celebration of Sr. Faustina’s beatification. “They came home on fire,” John recalls. His sister gave him a copy of Divine Mercy in My Soul, and, when she later joined the Sisters of Life and had to give away her possessions, she presented John with a large copy of the Divine Mercy Image, which a friend had brought back from Poland. To Sr. Veronica, it was clear that John and Robin needed to bring their intention to the Shrine. Thrice blessed On a rainy Divine Mercy Sunday in 1998, John and Robin prayed at the Shrine for God to bless them with a baby. Six weeks later, Robin was pregnant. Their first child, GraceAnne, was baptized on Divine Mercy Sunday the following year. In 2000, John drove up to the Shrine by himself on the Feast of Mercy and prayed for another child. John and Robin’s son, Christopher, was born at the end of that Jubilee Year, on Dec. 30. The couple’s third child, Caitlyn, arrived in March 2004 and was also baptized on the Feast of Mercy. Over the next two years, the Sullivans made pilgrimages of thanksgiving to the Shrine: John alone in 2005, and the whole family in 2006. In 2007, John, who loves long-distance walking and has hiked portions of the Appalachian Trail, felt inspired to walk the route. He did, and even promised God that he would make the walk Walking with the Lord By Marian Friedrichs Courtesy of John Sullivan Marian Helpers in Action 4 Marian Helper • Spring 2022 • marian.org
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