All joy (as distinct from mere pleasure, still more amusement) emphasizes our pilgrim status; always reminds, beckons, awakens desire. Our best havings are wantings.
C.S. Lewis, letter of November 5, 1954
Pilgrims
The English word “pilgrim” is used in some New Testament Bible translations to describe the temporary status of our earthly lives. Alternately translated as foreigner, alien, exile, stranger, refugee, visitor, outsider, and sojourner, it is an extension of its Old Testament usage as one that temporarily resides in a foreign land. Pilgrim is a determined-sounding word, one that brings to mind more than just a sightseeing visitor, but that of grim-faced outcasts enduring harsh circumstances as a religious rigor. The term descends from the Latin pelegrinus, a variant of peregrinus, meaning “wanderer,” though its Biblical meaning conveys a purposeful wandering.
Puritan preacher John Bunyan‘s allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678) follows the heavily burdened character Christian on his journey from the City of Destruction (the world) to the Celestial City (Heaven). The people Christian meets along the way alternately attempt to encourage him or lead him astray, while numerous physical barriers periodically pose significant dangers. The book is considered a masterpiece of English literature in general, and of religious literature in particular.
Pilgrimages
The Old Testament required that God’s people “Three times in the year… appear before the LORD God” – the Feasts of Weeks (also called Shavuot or Pentecost), First Fruits (Pesach/Passover or Unleavened Bread), and Ingathering (Sukkot or Tabernacles. See Exodus 34:23). These were spiritual pilgrimages, and Christians today follow that example with trips to the Holy Land and other ancient sites, as well as by traveling to sacred ground closer to home. St. James (Sant Iago in Spanish), who Tradition teaches brought the Gospel message to the far corner of the Iberian Peninsula (modern day Galicia in northwest Spain) is often depicted as a pilgrim carrying a staff. His icon is the scallop shell, symbolic of a pilgrimage with its many lines starting in different locations but all leading to a common objective, which can be interpreted as a representation of Heaven. Not coincidentally, scallop shells are common on the shores of Galicia, the terminus of the earthly pilgrimage known as the Camino de Santiago.
The religious sense of the Christian people has always found expression in various forms of piety surrounding the Church’s sacramental life, such as the veneration of relics, visits to sanctuaries, pilgrimages, processions, the stations of the cross, religious dances, the rosary, medals, etc.
Catechism of the Catholic Church #1674
Hundreds of spiritual pilgrimage sites are internationally known. Examples include Fatima and Lourdes, the Holy Land and the Vatican. Our mother Ann told us that her visit to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe near Mexico City was the most intense spiritual experience of her life, while the Mount of Beatitudes overlooking the Sea of Galilee was the most beautiful place she had ever been. Pilgrimage sites may have deep significance to many, or only to a few. I’d like to someday visit the small church on Cuyo Island, Philippines where our grandmother’s family once worshiped. A spiritual pilgrimage need not take one far afield, though. There are places worth visiting in every state and in most cities. Some of my favorites include the Old Spanish missions in California, the Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche in St. Augustine, Florida, and the Franciscan Monastery and the nearby Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. God willing, I too hope to visit Guadalupe in the next few years.
Virtual Pilgrimages
Many if not most pilgrimage sites have an online presence at which you can take a virtual pilgrimage. The Stations of the Cross are a different type of virtual pilgrimage in which we follow Jesus’ road to Calvary in our own parish church, while the Rosary is a Biblical tour of the life of Jesus from our own couch.
The Greatest of All Spiritual Pilgrimages
The most deeply significant pilgrimage we can take (within the context of our longer earthly pilgrimage) is and always has been the celebration of the Mass. As Catholics, we believe that every celebration of the Eucharist is a re-presentation of Jesus’s Paschal sacrifice and, more than that, it is an actual participation in His Passion, including the Last Supper at which Jesus commanded us to “do this” as an ever-lasting memorial. And even more than THAT, every Eucharistic celebration is a participation in the heavenly banquet that transcends time. We are there joined by all the saints that preceded us, including our ancestors in faith. There we receive the Bread that came down from heaven, the Fruit of the Tree of Life – the source and summit of the Christian life. If it has been a while since you have been to Mass, come back. Be nourished. Be refreshed. And be prepared both physically and spiritually for the journey that remains before you.
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