Session 2
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Symbol: map
Pilgrimage in the NT: after the Resurrection & Ascension,
what then for pilgrimage?
The history of pilgrimage (Jerusalem, Rome, Compostella,
Canterbury, labyrinths …)
Why go on pilgrimage: Motivation: penance, healing,
direction, relationship etc
A Quest; God who seeks us & journeys with us
Q: What is the difference between a tourist and a pilgrim?
A poem to reflect on
A prayer to finish with
Pilgrimage in the New Testament
The New Testament contains a lot about pilgrimage. Jesus and his family (Luke 2) and his
disciples are pictured as pilgrims to Jerusalem, going there for major festivals; those who
were converted at Pentecost were pilgrims who had gathered in Jerusalem for the festival; the
Ethiopian eunuch went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem (Acts 8:26-40); and Paul hurried to
Jerusalem to be there for the feast of Pentecost (Acts 20:16). But the importance of Jerusalem
as a destination for pilgrimage is altered by the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus.
Since the Resurrection and the Ascension, Jesus is no longer in Jerusalem – or in any
particular place on earth: instead, Christ is everywhere, in the Church, through the Holy
Spirit. We need to ask: to what extent were the pilgrimages of Paul and the disciples merely a
continuation (a hang-over) of pre-resurrection and Jewish practices, or are we to see them as
models for Christians ever since? The New Testament views the literal sense of pilgrimage as
a journey to a sacred place as having been fulfilled through what has taken place in the death
and resurrection of Christ. The Letter to the Hebrews uses pilgrimage language not for
journeys to the physical Jerusalem but for our aiming to reach ‘the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem’ (Hebrews 12:22).
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The New Testament does not encourage Christians to hold as normative the idea of
pilgrimage to Jerusalem (or to any particular place regarded as sacred) – so why do
we – or don’t we – go there?
The history of pilgrimage
The earliest major pilgrimage was to the Holy Land, to Palestine, grounded in the desire of
Christians to walk where Jesus walked. Constantine’s mother Helena made a pilgrimage
there in 326-7, and a short pamphlet dates from 333, giving a route from Bordeaux to
Jerusalem. Efforts were made to find the various biblical sites, building churches on them
and celebrating there the events connected with them. A woman called Egeria visited the
Holy Land in the late 4th or early 5th Century and left a record of what she saw: visits to
various sites (including those associated with Abraham) and details about the liturgical year in
Jerusalem. Rome became another great pilgrimage destination, partly because it was where
St Peter and St Paul were martyred – and many other martyrs besides, and partly because of
the presence of the Pope. People would go on pilgrimage to see and venerate – and
sometimes to collect – the relics of the saints.
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In the Middle Ages the third great pilgrimage destination of the Western Church came to be
Santiago de Compostela. There it was believed St James was buried, his body brought to
north-west Spain by all sorts of legendary means, all the way from Jerusalem where he was
martyred. (‘Santiago’ is Spanish for ‘St James’). The history of this particular pilgrimage is a
rich and complex one. It played its part in the Christian re-conquest of Spain from the Muslim
Moors. These journeys were long and dangerous ones, and people frequently travelled in
groups for protection. There were other pilgrimage destinations also, including in England
the shrine of St Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral – visited by Chaucer’s happy band of
pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales, and one dedicated to the Virgin Mary at Walsingham in
Norfolk. When travel to the Holy Land became too difficult after the capture of Jerusalem an
alternative pilgrimage grew up: walking a labyrinth – for example, the one at Chartres
Cathedral.
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Jerusalem, Rome, Compostella, Canterbury… If you had been a mediaeval Christian,
which one would you have wanted to visit, and why?
Has anyone been to any of these places? What did you find there?
Why go on pilgrimage?
Given the disruption to one’s everyday life and work and the difficulties and dangers of the
journey (and even if they are somewhat less now than in the Middle Ages, they still exist),
why go on pilgrimage? Why not just stay at home and pray there? There are possibly as
many reasons for pilgrimage as there are pilgrims, but several main themes stand out – and
any particular pilgrim may be motivated by a number of these (which are listed in no
particular order).
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Thanksgiving: a spiritual act of giving thanks for all the gifts received from God, or
for a particular gift.
Repentance/Penance: a journey undertaken as an act of repentance for all one’s sins,
or for a particular sin. Confession of sins and prayers of forgiveness are an integral
part of the journey, its beginning and ending.
A search for the sacred: the pilgrim wants to see and touch the holy places – places
where God’s love and work have been manifested – or the relics of a saint in and
through whom the presence of God has been revealed, so that the pilgrim can
experience that sacredness and strengthen his or her faith and love for God.
Renewal and enrichment of spiritual life: the pilgrimage becomes an opportunity
for refreshing the spiritual life of the pilgrim and strengthening his/her faith. It can
become the search for a centre around which to reorganise the pilgrim’s life. One’s
prayer life is deepened, both during the journey itself and afterwards.
Healing: pilgrimage – especially to places such as Lourdes – can be motivated by a
wish to receive the healing of a physical or psychological sickness, either in the
pilgrim, or in someone on whose behalf the pilgrim is making the journey.
A search for future direction: Going away from one’s normal routine in order to
have time and space in which to think, pray, seek out a new direction for one’s life in
the future or to confirm (or otherwise) a decision made but not yet acted-upon. What
work should I do? Should I marry this person? Where should I live?
Which of these reasons might attract you most? Or least?
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A Quest
Religious pilgrimage is a quest, a search for something personally important enough to
motivate the pilgrim throughout the difficulties of the journey.1 It is ‘a search in this world of
what is not from this world’.2 Pilgrims travel along the road not only to discover answers to
the questions that concern them but also to discover the One in whom the answers reside.
And there is something else to remember: in pilgrimage it is not just the pilgrim who is
searching for God – God is also and always in search of us. The God who searched for Adam
and Eve in the garden, the God who met Abraham and Sarah by the oaks of Mamre, is the
same God who journeys to find us. In that sense, Christ – the Word who became flesh and
pitched a tent among us – is the Pilgrim above all pilgrims. ‘I came from the Father and have
come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and am going to the Father.’ (Jn 16:28) In
Christ we see both God-the-Pilgrim in search of human beings, and the human pilgrim fully
directed towards God.3
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How have you experienced God searching for you?
In what ways does Jesus seem a pilgrim to you?
In pilgrimage, we do not only travel towards God – God travels with us. ‘We come from God,
we go to God, and God travels with us’. This sense of God travelling with us comes across
clearly in Luke’s account of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (24: 13-35). While the
two are walking along, ‘Jesus himself came near and went with them’, journeying with them
and joining in their conversation. He interprets the Scriptures to them and, on their invitation,
joins their evening meal where he is made known to them ‘in the breaking of the bread’.
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Is every pilgrimage an Emmaus journey?
Pilgrim vs Tourist
This was the question to think about from the last study. Centuries ago, pilgrimage could
have been distinguished from sightseeing by its focus on the desired outcome, which was
more than merely arriving at the destination and having a good look around, and by the
official sanction of the church. After a pilgrimage, the returned pilgrim was set apart as one
who had done something special that required a commitment. A mere traveller or wanderer
was regarded with more suspicion. But both forms of travel offer the opportunity, in going to
new places, to gain new perspectives. What, then, is the difference between tourism and
pilgrimage? One key difference is the religious or liturgical dimension to the latter, the
prayers recited on the way, the ‘Pilgrims’ Mass’ one can attend, the blessing of the pilgrim or
the taking of a vow. Another crucial difference is internal to the traveller. Douglas Vest
notes that while sightseeing seeks experiences that are different from the usual, pilgrimage
also leads one further afield but in search of a new centre in life. ‘Sightseeing explores what
is foreign, alien, and other, whereas pilgrimage seeks a new center for life.’4
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Do you agree with that distinction? What other differences are there between tourism
and pilgrimage? What similarities are there?
1
See Douglas C Vest. On Pilgrimage. Cowley Publications. Cambridge, Mass. 1998., 92-94
Travelling with God - the meaning and benefit of pilgrimage. Archbishop Daniel, Metropolitan of Moldavia &
Bukovina. Transloated by Fr Dan Sandu. Trinitas. 2000, 10.
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See Archbishop Daniel, ibid. 10.
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Vest, ibid, 32.
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A Poem to reflect on:
Something to bring back to show
you have been there: a lock of God’s
hair, stolen from him while he was
asleep; a photograph of the garden
of the spirit. As has been said,
the point of travelling is not
to arrive, but to return home
laden with pollen you shall work up
into the honey the mind feeds on.
(from ‘Somewhere’ by R S Thomas)
A prayer to finish:
Lord, you who called your servant Abraham out of the town Ur in Chaldea and who watched
over him during all his wanderings; you who guided the Jewish people through the desert; we
also ask you to watch over your present servants, who for love of your name, make a
pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Be for us a companion on our journey, the guide on
our intersections, the strengthening during fatigue, the fortress in danger, the resource on our
itinerary, the shadow in our heat, the light in our darkness, the consolation during dejection,
and the power of our intention, so that we under your guidance, safely and unhurt, may reach
the end of our journey and strengthened with gratitude and power, secure and filled with
happiness, may join our home. For Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. Apostle James, pray for us.
Holy Virgin, pray for us. Amen
(Prayed at a Pilgrims’ Mass on the way to Compostella)
A question to think about for next time:
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Can you go on pilgrimage in a bus? Or do you need to be on foot?
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