PHOTO BY ISOSTOCKPHOTO.COM/ERIC NAUD

Just after Easter last year, I had the opportunity to travel to Turkey as a part of my interfaith work for the Archdiocese. While it was not the official purpose of my journey, I did have in mind one particular goal: to visit the great Hagia Sophia Church in Istanbul (now a museum) which for more than a 1000 years was the greatest church in Christendom. When I walked through the doors of that astounding building and offered up a silent prayer at a spot where millions of Christians have prayed before me, I felt that I had completed my journey, and could return home with a sense of fulfillment.

I realised then that, albeit unconsciously, I had set out on a pilgrimage. I am sure that as you read this, you could give a similar example in your life of a time when you set out on a journey with the specific goal of visiting a special place. It may have been to a religious site, or a place of special significance in your past life or your family history, or locations connected with great events or great people you admire. If so, you have been responding to what is a very natural human impulse: the impulse ‘to be a pilgrim’.

A part of natural religious experience
Recognising the essentially human character of the desire to be a pilgrim is the first step in appreciating a Catholic spirituality of pilgrimage. Historians and anthropologists have shown that pilgrimage has been a part of religious experience since the very earliest human societies. Some have even observed the modern phenomenon of ‘secular’ pilgrimages – such as travelling to Graceland to view the tomb of Elvis, or those who visited the tomb of Lenin in Red Square in Moscow during the days of the Soviet Union – although a little reflection will show that even these ‘secular’ pilgrimages are ‘religious’ in impulse.

A pilgrimage could be defined as a journey (usually of some distance) to a place of special significance in order to fulfill a spiritual obligation or to receive a spiritual benefit. Such journeys exist in all major religions, particularly in Buddhism and in Islam, but also in Jewish, Hindu and Baha’i faiths.

A part of Christian faith?
Given the prevalence of pilgrimage in other religions, we could ask whether pilgrimage has an authentic place in Christianity. When Jesus spoke of the spiritual disciplines that are common to all religions – fasting, praying and giving alms (cf. Matthew 6) – He did not include pilgrimage. Yet He Himself – along with His family – was accustomed to regular pilgrimage from Nazareth to the Temple in Jerusalem for the major festivals of the Jewish year (cf. Luke 2:41ff). St Luke records that at the time of Pentecost there were Jews from all over the Roman Empire present in Jerusalem for the festival (Acts 2).

Still, did not Jesus say that Christians would worship “neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem” but “in Spirit and in Truth” (John 4:21, 23)? Are there then no ‘sacred sites’ for Christians? On the contrary, there is one site that is supremely sacred for Christians, the place where the Spirit of God came down on the One Who said “I am the Truth”: namely, the sacred site of Jesus’ own physical Body (cf. John 2:21). Far from denying the essentially human sense of sacred space, the fact that God became a human being, taking flesh and living among us in the very real geographical space of this earth, affirms that this world is capable of being sanctified by God and mediating his presence.

The presence of God “in Spirit and in Truth” was recognised by the early Christians in two particular kinds of locations: in those places and objects specifically connected with Jesus Himself while He lived on earth; and in the physical places and relics of those saints in whom the spiritual presence of Christ was especially experienced.

So, we could say that appreciating the significance of the Incarnation is the ‘second step’ along the way to understanding a Catholic spirituality of pilgrimage.

Pilgrimage in Christian history
We have written evidence of Christians undertaking pilgrimage from at least the end of the 2nd Century AD. The main destinations at this point were those places associated with the life of our Incarnate Lord Jesus, particularly Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Famous pilgrims to the Holy Land include Constantine’s mother, St Helena, who is credited with finding the ‘True Cross’, St Jerome, who settled in Bethlehem, and the famous Egeria, whose pilgrimage diary reveals so many fascinating details of that age. At about the same time, evidence emerges of Christians making pilgrimages to the shrines of the martyrs, in particular the burial places of Sts Peter and Paul in Rome.

The significant fact is that none of the evidence we have of these early pilgrimages expresses surprise at the phenomenon or the impulse. All reports indicate that such journeys had been a part of Christian life for some time already – which would indicate a practice going back to the first century of Christian life.

Over the centuries, the pilgrimage destinations multiply. In 1911, the Catholic Encyclopedia was able to list more than 100 traditional places of pilgrimage, including Jerusalem, Rome, Constantinople, Lourdes, Canterbury, Santiago de Compostela, Glastonbury, Loreto, and Walsingham.

So the ‘third step’ in our appreciation of the Catholic spirituality of pilgrimage is our appreciation of walking in the footsteps of those who have gone before us.

An act of penance
Perhaps the least appreciated aspect of pilgrimage today is the penitential character of pilgrimage, despite the fact that for centuries it was this aspect that outshone all the others. Once the practice of pilgrimage and the pilgrimage destinations were well established, it became customary for pilgrimage to be assigned as penance for various serious misdemeanours. The Sacrament of Reconciliation during the so-called ‘Dark Ages’ required much more rigorous penances than those to which we are accustomed today!

The penitential character of pilgrimage was shown by special clothes worn, by badges and symbols (e.g., a scallop shell or a cross), and sometimes by the bare feet of the traveller. Pilgrims would eat only simple food, often relying upon the charity of others to provide for their needs, and seek the hospitality of strangers along the way.

Today the connection between pilgrimage and penance is maintained by the indulgences the Church offer to those who undertake a pilgrimage. For instance, in 2005 a plenary indulgence was granted to those who, meeting the necessary requirements, participated as pilgrims to World Youth Day in Cologne. This year a similar plenary indulgence has been granted for those who participate in any ceremony carried out in honour of the World Youth Day Cross solemnly exposed or who are attentive in the presence of this Cross.

In any case, pilgrimage has always been regarded as an occasion for conversion. This is the ‘fourth step’ in understanding the Catholic spirituality of pilgrimage.

Here we have no abiding city …
Today we take travel for granted. Tourism has become a significant factor in the support of major national economies, and it is not unusual for someone to be required to travel internationally in connection with their employment. But in times past, pilgrimage was a dangerous undertaking because it meant forsaking one’s native home, leaving the familiar, and following the Spirit to an unknown destination. In the process it not only taught the pilgrim to rely upon God, but that in a sense God Himself was the ‘home’ of every believer.

The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews picks up this point when he reminds us that we, as spiritual children of Abraham, are “strangers and pilgrims upon earth”. This is the exquisite paradoxical spirituality at the heart of pilgrimage. The pilgrim – traditionally walking barefoot and dependant upon the hospitality of the locals along the way – is acutely conscious of the land upon which he treads. The Incarnation grounds him in this world, in the here and now. But at the same time, this very consciousness and grounding speaks to him in his heart saying, “this is not your home…”, “here you have no abiding city…” (Hebrews 13:14).

Where is the home of the pilgrim? What is his destination? Ultimately, it is where it always has been: it is “with the Lord” (2 Cor 5:8). It is where the Lord’s Own Body – the Temple of God’s presence among us – may be found. It is here on earth, yes – especially in the Eucharist, so that each of us can undertake a ‘mini-pilgrimage’ to the Tabernacle of the Lord in our own parish church any day of the week – but on the other hand, it is not here, but in heaven, where Jesus Himself calls us, and where He is preparing a home for each of us.

So, this is the ultimate step in our appreciation of a Catholic spirituality of pilgrimage: Christ is the Way of the Pilgrim. He is our destination. In Him we find our eternal and abiding home.