Originally published on Pomalom’s Ponderings.
Photography: Mark H. Paalman/CC0 1.0
Tiring so from our cruel and hateful world – as evidenced by the growing animosity between political poles (of which I have written elsewhere) – and weary from my daily interactions with the effects of Large Language Models on the corruption of published science – I work to search out and eliminate fraud from the scientific literature, an increasingly difficult task indeed – I went with my son on a pilgrimage: the Third Annual Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage, on Saturday 9/27/25, at the massive National Shrine of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC. It needed to be enormous, since over 3,000 pilgrims from all over the mid-Atlantic and nation filled that reverent space. Some pilgrims even came from abroad. I’m grateful that our trek was only a 45-minute drive.
And so, we explored that lovely space for a while, then we sat, and prayed, and sang (mostly in Latin), and listened. We sought reconciliation and received absolution. And were spiritually refilled by God’s Grace, measure upon measure, shaken down and running over.
Grace, so very much in dire need in this nation.
Grace, so very much in dire need on this planet.
Grace, a free gift from God, for which we only need to ask, with a humble and contrite heart.
Video: Mark H. Paalman/CC0 1.0
But why would God do this? Grace certainly cannot be God’s reaction to this loveless and hateful world, grown darker over the millennia with more and more efficient means to injure and destroy, both physically and emotionally. Some might even call Rebellious Mankind the worst part of God’s creation. After all, He gave to Mankind His only begotten Son, and we killed Him.
And yet, God’s infinite Love is something which we, as broken humans, simply cannot fathom. Something we, if we’re honest, know that we in no way deserve, from The Fall in The Garden onwards.
God’s Love. Divine Mercy. God’s Magnificent Charity. Grace.
On our own, humans are content to choose the bad. As imperfect sinners, we do it every day. In doing so, we can’t truly appreciate the fullness of God’s goodness. Sure, we pray to Him, we thank Him for His gifts, and when we slip up, we realize how shallow and helpless we are without Him.
But God’s Grace, which we so desperately need to save us from eternal damnation, doesn’t just blanket us from out of nowhere, or strike us like lightening.
Look to the saints. Saints choose to love God even over and above their own human limitations. They allow God to convert their hearts.
This is key: the saints ask our Heavenly Father for the ability to love the things that He loves, and despise the things that He despises. That “ask” remains at the core of their being.
A Dominican Father at the pilgrimage spoke of this, using the analogy of falling in love with someone. When you come to know and love your beloved, you come to love the things that your beloved loves. Those things are an inherent part of the beloved.
© Copyright Michael Dominic O’connor, O.P.
Photography: Mark H. Paalman/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
This is the relationship which God wants with each of us: He asks us to love Him with a fierce love that encompasses the Theological Virtues of faith, hope and charity; and the Cardinal Virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. Through these flow the Fruits of the Holy Spirit. If we love Him and His Virtues, then we love charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, modesty, chastity, and generosity.
This is what God wants of us: through loving Him, really and truly, that we also love what He loves. And by doing so, through His Grace we can work to restore the world toward Eden.
Reading that list of the Fruits over and over again, I am humbled at how I never cease to fail at any one of them – usually many – throughout the course of a single day. And that’s where the Holy Rosary comes in. Especially the Holy Rosary prayed and sung in unison by over three-thousand faithful in one space.
There we were, myriad sinners strong, praying together, asking for God’s Divine Mercy, Charity and Grace through the intercession of the Mother of our Church. We were in the middle of a huge sacred prayer battery.
Here’s a timelier analogy. Forget about LLMs. We were unique data elements within an EGM – an Enormous Grace Model, with The Holy Trinity serving as The Algorithm and the output as the New Jerusalem.
There is absolutely nothing like this feeling. Maybe a secular example would be the thrill of compatriotism within a packed sports stadium while singing along with your National Anthem. Albeit a poor comparison, being moved by the singing of any national anthem does require one thing. It requires your belief in that nation, participation in that song, and the power that your belief holds over your body, your emotions.
The Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage could not have come at a more appropriate time in our nation’s recent sad history. We were told that thousands more faithful were watching the live stream, and countless others will view the videos prepared for distribution. I am so grateful to the Friars of the Dominican Province of St. Joseph and the Dominican House of Studies in DC for making it possible, and for the National Shrine for hosting this event, now for the third time. Next year, become a part of the next EGM on Saturday September 26, 2026.
Amazing photo, I often look at that very spot when I am there.