To Be a Pilgrim
Pilgrims tell their tales of pilgrimage.
With many thanks to Olen Cesari for the gift of his music :-)
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Blessed John Paul II was a pilgrim to 129 different countries on 104 apostolic voyages. JPII: "Each trip made by the Pope is 'an authentic pilgrimage to the living sanctuary of the People of God... the Pilgrim-Pope feels at home everywhere, even 'among strangers.'" - more here.
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Lourdes, France
Pilgrim: Frankie, from England ♦
"As you get nearer and nearer to the Grotto, you can feel the peace, you can feel the quietness and I really do think Our Lady literally leads you by the hand to bring you closer to her son's heart in Lourdes. And I think it's a great place of challenge, but also as well in the silence realising what's important, what's worth living for and fighting for. I've been very blessed as well to witness young people go to confession out in Lourdes, young people go to confession who haven't been for a number of years, and I've really seen them be touched by God's spirit of love; the Holy Spirit has really touched them in the Sacrament of Confession and I've really seen lives changed. I think it's to do partly with the powerful intercession of Our Lady, who invites people to come closer to the face of love, which is the face of Christ Himself as they encounter Him, not only in the Eucharist and in the Sacraments but in the face and love of other pilgrims."
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Paray-le-Monial, France
Pilgrim: Rachel, from Scotland ♦
"Each time that I've been to Paray-le-Monial (I've been there 3 times now) it's been a really blessed and a very deep experience in my faith journey. And I would say that this image of Christ and the revelation of His Sacred Heart to St Margaret Mary is the image of Christ that touches me the most and that speaks to me the most: Christ's open heart that he shared with this saint and shared through her to the world, and the burning love that He has through His Sacred Heart and this desire, this thirst, for us to return some of that love that He so yearns for from us. Every time that I've been there, I've just experienced a great peace and just resting there with him, and just really experiencing Christ's heart and being with Him and receiving that grace, and experiencing this intense love that Christ has for each of us and for Christ's Church."
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Medjugorje, Bosnia Herzegovina
Pilgrim: Kate, from London ♦
"This time I knew that the Lord was calling me to something else, to that inner journey, that pilgrimage, that journey of the soul, that journey within. So my journey within started about 6 months ago and, having thought that I was going to be travelling around the world, I realised that that was not what the Lord wanted, that was not where he was taking me. So I've been looking for little signs and asking him where he'd like me to go and one of those places was to Medjugorje ... Each day at Mass I would pray and ask Our Lady to guide me; because I wasn't on a formal pilgrimage, I asked her each day to guide me and each day I would meet different people and it would become very clear where she wanted me to go. So on one day I climbed the mountain of apparitions and met Our Lady in a very profound way on that mountain; and another day she called me to climb the mountain of the Cross, Krizevac, and again I journeyed with Our Lady up that mountain, meeting different pilgrims on the way but also meeting the Lord. As I met the Lord he would guide me and help me to discern the way forward in my life. "
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St Davids, Wales (during Pilgrimage 2000)
"It left me with a sense of 'gosh, what a reflection of life in general it was.' I'd left St Davids feeling very overwhelmed by life in general really and what was this time going to include and quite what had I got myself into? All along the way, I was cared for and looked after, and the reality of God was very evident in the simplicity of every day and in the goodness of every day and just being alive. So, for me, it was a wonderful, wonderful experience of being a pilgrim."
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The Holy Land
Pilgrim: Father Tom, from England ♦
"As I was walking I was often on my own and being able to reflect in silence on the places where Jesus had walked, where he'd talked, the places that had really shaped him. As I was walking I was meditating on different passages from the Bible, of Jesus walking along and his closeness to nature. I was struck by the beauty of the nature surrounding me, I was really struck by the beauty of the birds, of the Sea of Galilee, of all the very rich agriculture around. I think it really gave me an insight into Jesus's world, but more than that into his heart. into that sense of His journey, of the many journeys which He undertook, those physical journeys but also those journeys of the heart. I think Jesus always invites us to journey further, to journey deeper."
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Chapel on the Rock, USA
"There was this storm brewing over the mountains. If you can imagine these mountains receding into the darkness and the white statue of Christ shining out among them. The view was absolutely breathtaking. It was as if one were beholding the coming of Christ. And then lightning started to flash over the peaks, really bold flashes of lightning, and we just stood there from a distance and watched the beauty of the storm. This tremendous reality of God, present, acting, powerful, and there was one flash of lightning that came just over a mountain near to the statue of Christ and almost seemed to point down at him. And the only way that I can describe this moment, the experience of seeing that, was like hearing the words directly from Him: "Be still and know that I am God."
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The Hill of Crosses, Lithuania
Pilgrim: Jill, from the USA ♦
"The Hill of Crosses in Lithuania started out as a place with only a few crosses put there by Christians in Lithuania and then Russians came in and knocked all the crosses down. Then people replaced them and the Russians came back, and the people replaced them and finally the Russians gave up. To go there now and see every square inch covered with crosses, on an area about the size of a football field, is an objective testimony to love of God and the strength that God gives people under incredible circumstances."
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Le Puy-en-Velay to Santiago de Compostela
Pilgrim: Jonathan, from London, on Il Camino.
1st ½ of the pilgrimage: Le Puy-en-Velay to Pamplona ♦
2nd ½ of the pilgrimage: Pamplona to Santiago de Compostela ♦
"Coming to the end of a long pilgrimage is a very rewarding sensation but it's not accompanied in a sense by lots of fireworks or excitements, it just has a general contentment that you have walked this great distance, and done lots of praying on the way and been to lots of Masses on the way and had lots of lovely conversations with all sorts of people on the way, but there was no particular sense of rejoicing because it had come to an end, which in itself was rather sad. So we spent 3 quiet days in Compostela; the weather was lovely and we got to know Santiago a bit and then we left in a bus early one morning and that was the end of it all."
Santiago de Compostela, Spain
"Santiago de Compostela is a place that has рlауеd a very important role in the history of Christianity; and so, its spiritual message is in itself very eloquent. Throughout the centuries the рlасе has been a "point of attraction and convergence for Europe and for the whole of Christendom... all Europe gathered around the 'memory' of James during the very centuries when it was building itself into a homogeneous and spiritually united continent" (cfr. "European Act" at Santiago de Compostela, 9 November 1982, in Insegnamenti V/3, 1982, pp. 1257-1258).
At the tomb of St James we want to learn that our faith has historical foundations; it is not something vague and transient. In the world of today, marked by a serious relativism and great confusion in values, we must always remember that, as Christians, we are truly built up on the stable foundations of the Apostles, with Christ himself as the cornerstone (сfr Eph 2:20).
At the tomb of the Apostles, we also want to receive again Christ's mandate: "You shall be my witnesses... Right to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). St James was the first to seal his witness of faith with his own blood. For all of us he is an example and an excellent teacher.
Santiago de Compostela is not only a Sanctuary. It is also a route: a closely-woven network of pilgrimage roads. The "Santiago 'Trail" was for centuries a pathway to conversion and an extraordinary witness to faith. Along this way arose visible monuments to the pilgrims' faith: churches аnd hospices.
Pilgrimage has a very deep spiritual significance; it can represent in itself an important form of catechesis. The Church - as the Second Vatican Council reminded us - is, indeed, a people of God on the march, "in search of a future and permanent city" (cfr. Lumen Gentium, n. 9). In the world today there is a revival of the practice of going on pilgrimage, especially among the youth. Today, you are among those more inclined to experience a pilgrimage as a "way" to interior renewal, to a deepening of faith, a strengthening of the sense of communion and solidarity with your brothers and sisters and as a help in discovering your personal vocation."
- Blessed John Paul II - World Youth Day Message 1989 - in English, French, Italian & Spanish