land that is hallowed by the footsteps of patriarchs and prophets; a land that Christians hold in particular veneration as the setting for the events of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I take my place in a long line of Christian pilgrims to these shores, a line that stretches back to the earliest centuries of the Church’s history and which, I am sure, will continue long into the future.” Pope Francis also described his 2014 holyland visit as a “pilgrimage with a strictly religious purpose.” The Spiritual Journey As an outward journey to holy sites and inwards to spiritual elevation, a pilgrimage may be undertaken in a spirit of fasting and penance, or joyously, in thanksgiving for blessings received or in hope, prayer and entreaty to be blessed, to feel a sense of the holy by being in the presence of relics or by walking on ground hallowed by the presence of Jesus and His disciples. A pilgrim might pursue spiritual ecstasy in the religious sites of a particular faith, or seek a miracle through the medium of God or a saint, depending on his or her set of beliefs. Whatever the purpose, leaving behind what is comfortable and traveling off to a strange distant land is a way of stepping outside one’s normal routine. When undertaken with the right attitude, a pilgrimage is a way to “lose” one’s lives for His sake, an echo of Jesus’ teaching: “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospel’s, will save it” (Mark 8, 35). Pilgrim & Tourist Although both are journeys, and a very fine line may exist that differentiates pilgrim from tourist, to undertake a pilgrimage is not merely to take a trip, to travel to Israel the Holy Land, and some religious leaders have even
The Experience In centuries past, a Holy Land pilgrimage was a difficult and strenuous trek, and even nowadays, with ease of travel, air-conditioned tour buses and hotels with buffet breakfasts and amenities, there are a few believers for whom such physical endurance is a reflection of the spirit of their faith. The traveling Christian preacher Arthur Blessitt, for example, undertook a 22,500 km pilgrimage
trek on foot, carrying a wooden cross through five continents and 30 countries before arriving in Jerusalem in 1977, where he walked from the Mount of Olives to the courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and from there to the Garden Tomb, where he preached. While this certainly is not a standard, many pilgrimage leaders believe in the traditional value of a grueling journey and in letting pilgrims be pilgrims instead of tourists. Pilgrims, they maintain, should travel the topography of the Holy Land from North to South, top to bottom. They should feel it with all of their senses, recalling the places they have read about. These thoughts echo the words of St. Paulinus nearly 1400 years ago: “No other sentiment draws people to Jerusalem than the desire to see and touch the places where Christ was physically present, and to be able to say from their own experience, ‘We have gone into his tabernacle and worshipped in the places where His feet stood.’” They were reechoed in May 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI during his holy land visit, in a statement that could well serve as the basis for pilgrimage for any Christian believer. Describing himself as a “pilgrim among pilgrims,” the Pontiff remarked: “I appreciate the opportunity that has been offered to me to come on a pilgrimage to a
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