Camino 2017 - Message in a Bottle

I was pondering all those letters people wrote, filled with petitions and prayers, which I was privileged to leave at Fatima. There they laid for hundreds to see, but who would read them?
I imagine Jesus would or Mary would and pray with us. But they can read our hearts already, can't they?

I wrote a letter too and left it there. What was I thinking? Why did I do it?

I was reflecting on this during my full day in Fatima. What came to me was an old song, a favorite of mine in high school.

Just a castaway
An island lost at sea
Another lonely day
With no one here but me
More loneliness
Than any man could bear
Rescue me before I fall into despair

I'll send an SOS to the world
I'll send an SOS to the world
I hope that someone gets my
Message in a bottle

A year has passed since I wrote my note
But I should have known this right from the start
Only hope can keep me together
Love can mend your life
But love can break your heart

I'll send an SOS to the world
I'll send an SOS to the world
I hope that someone gets my
Message in a bottle

Walked out this morning
Don't believe what I saw
A hundred billion bottles
Washed up on the shore
Seems I'm not alone at being alone
A hundred billion casatways
Looking for a home

I'll send an SOS to the world
I'll send an SOS to the world
I hope that someone gets my
Message in a bottle

Oh 

The prayers and petitions are our messages, albeit not necessarily in a bottle. We send them out in despair, with hope that someone out there will respond. Will God help us? Will God save us?

And only hope keeps us somehow together. Life on earth as we know it, we yearn for love, and know that it can also break our hearts. Will God give us love? Will God break our hearts?

And like the song, as I delivered the letters, as I saw the thousands of people in prayer each day, I saw a hundred billion messages in a bottle.

And when we pray, we are all sending out an S.O.S. to the world. We are sending our prayers out to God. And there's a hundred billion messages in bottles out there waiting to be read.

I don't feel lonely with you praying with me on this pilgrimage, and I hope you don't feel alone while we pray with you. We don't need to be alone in feeling alone. May our petitions be heard, our tears of despair wiped dry, our all our bottles opened together.