Natasha Serlin

One of the women had lost her grandmother in the night.

As I wiped her tears and anointed her forehead, I felt what it meant to truly tend to another person's grief.

And as the oil was pressed into my own skin, I felt something else too.

I was realizing that what we honor becomes more sacred.

And like the nard oil itself, I could feel the impact of that sinking in.

Like she did.

2,000 years ago, arriving on these waters on a boat without oar.

It was here on the French coast, at Sainte-Marie-de-la-Mer, that Mary Magdalene was said to have arrived on a boat with no sails and no oars after being exiled from Judea.

As Aude told us more, I began to visualize Mary Magdalene's journey, imagining her world.

And

I think for me pilgrimage is that.

There's stories, there's lands, there's places.

But then it's your own pilgrimage.

It's your own relationship.

When have you found yourself on the boat without oar?

Exiled.

No knowing how you're going to make it.

Who was on that boat with you?

What did you pray to for it to bring you to shore?

How was that destiny already a seed before the exile happened?