Reflection by: Isaac Francis
Chronicles of a pilgrim – Day 15 – VIENNA/DUBAI
#sequelachristi2025
Today didn’t feel like a pilgrimage day in the usual sense. We packed up, said our goodbyes to Vienna and the cold, and made our way to the airport. Some squeezed in last-minute shopping, others just sat around, tired but content. No churches, no holy sites, just suitcases, boarding passes, and waiting.
We flew to Dubai, sat through a long transit, and waited again for our next flight to Singapore. By the end of it all, everyone was exhausted. Quiet. Ready to go home.
And maybe that’s what today was meant to be.
After two weeks of walking, praying, reflecting, and being moved in ways I didn’t always expect, the pilgrimage didn’t end with a big moment, it ended with tiredness, waiting, small talk, and silence. Real life slowly creeping back in.
But somewhere in between the queues, the waiting, and the long hours in transit, I realised that the pilgrimage doesn’t end when the sites end. It ends when I choose whether or not to carry what I’ve received back into my ordinary life.
There was no big prayer moment today.
Just a quiet awareness of gratitude, for the journey, for my fellow pilgrims, for the moments that challenged me, and for the ways God met me gently along the way.
As we head home, I don’t feel like I’ve “figured everything out.”
But I do feel a little more self-aware of God’s presence in my life, and of the parts of my life where I need to allow Him to work on.
Tonight, as we wait for the final flight, I’m reminded that faith doesn’t always look like mountaintop moments. Sometimes it looks like endurance, patience, and trust, carrying what God has done quietly back into the routine of my everyday life.
And that’s what I’m taking home for Advent from this pilgrimage, to return home not perfect, but aware of my imperfections, grateful and willing to keep walking with Him, even when the road looks ordinary again.
