TO BE A PILGRIM

As a Dominican I’m the proud owner of a “T” shirt with a woodcut picture of a friar, mounted on a horse.   He’s one of the characters in Chaucer’s ‘Canterbury Tales.  The legend on the “T” shirt reads, “The friar knew the taverns well in every town."  Was the friend who gave the shirt trying to tell me something?    Fortunately the inscription didn’t complete the quotation, “And every innkeeper and barmaid too!”
 

 Various pilgrim groups have been kind enough to invite me to go with them, usually as their chaplain -not an arduous task.  My main responsibilities consisted in saying daily Mass with a sermon. I was also expected to be available for confessions and counselling.  Most people were too busy praying or sight-seeing to require much attention from me.
 

 Each pilgrimage was, in its own way, a wonderful, fascinating experience, even though we didn’t entertain each other with colourful, still less, bawdy tales.   But we did have some amusing incidents.  Travelling with a group for any length of time provides a fascinating exercise in group dynamics.   As we got to know each other we found there were some people who got on our nerves, while other became good friends.
 

As for getting on people’s nerves, I was guilty when we had a parish pilgrimage to Lourdes.  This was principally for  the sick, with a percentage of able-bodied people caring for them. These carers were wonderful young people who paid their own way, while devoting their time and energy to looking after the sick.  We slept in dormitories, each with a mixture of sick and able-bodied carers.  That’s where I became an irritant.   My snoring kept others awake.  There are few things more irritating than the snorer enjoying a good sleep, while keeping others awake. Fortunately there was an easy solution. I was told to wear a belt with its buckle in my back.  That would force me to lie on my side and would stop my snoring.  It worked, and harmony was restored.
 

Each place of pilgrimage has its own character, its own spirituality and devotion.  Lourdes is usually associated with the sick. Many people go seeking a cure for a mental or physical ailment.  But a statue there brings a wonderful insight into the deepest kind of healing. This statue depicts a blind man, kneeling. The legend runs, something like this, ‘I came seeking a cure for my blindness and re-gained my faith!’   For me, that sums up the true meaning of Lourdes.  Certainly some do seek and find cures for their ailments, while  other people's healing may be more profound. They receive the grace  to cope with sickness in a positive and fruitful way, associated with the saving power of the crucified Christ.
 

I can remember a power struggle on one pilgrimage.   The official leader thought he was so competent that he could dispense with the cost of a currier and guide.   As a result, we found that at one hotel he hadn’t booked enough beds for the group.  Some of us ended up sleeping on couches on the landing.  The hapless organizer managed to lose two elderly pilgrims. They had become confused and lost through combining the local wine with their medicines.  Fortunately they turned up at the police station and were returned to the fold. After this misfortune it wasn’t surprising that someone else tried to take over the organization of the pilgrimage!
 

A pilgrimage is usually a package holiday with a difference.  It should be a religious journey, reflecting our travelling through life, with all its joys and sorrows.  We pilgrims are the People of God journeying to the Promised Land; we are the Pilgrim Church, travelling towards the Kingdom of heaven.   When that’s  arduous -as surely it will be at times -we can identify with Christ on His pilgrimage to Calvary.  For those who rough it on their pilgrimage, the actual journey is as important as arriving at a holy place. That’s very true of  the Student Cross pilgrimage to Walsingham - the ancient English national shrine to Our Lady.  During Holy Week university members walk over 100 miles, sleeping rough and carrying a life-size cross.  That is a powerful witness to their faith in the Crucified Christ.   When the journey is smooth and comfortable, arriving at a sacred shrine is what really matters.
 

 

Though I’m not one for mass rallies, I have found that seeing other people praying encourages me to pray.  It convinces me that there are countless people from all round the world, who share my faith.  I’m not alone; I’m not an isolated lunatic!  If going on pilgrimage deepens my prayer life and strengthens my faith, that’s a real cure!

 

There’s something very special about a pilgrimage to the Holy Land -where the Son of God came down to earth; that’s where He achieved the salvation of the world.  Seeing the sites where Jesus lived and died, relating them to the Gospels, made these events more vivid.  The imagery of the water of life was powerfully brought home to me when we travelled across the barren Judean desert towards Jericho. By way of contrast, tropical fruit was grown there.  More than ever before I realized how the presence or absence of water made all the difference between life and death. I was  reminded of how Jesus made water a vivid symbol of our spiritual life. "Let anyone who believes in me come and drink!  As Scripture says, 'From His heart shall flow streams of living water.'  He was speaking of  the Spirit, which those who believed in Him were to receive; for there was no Spirit as yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified,'" 
              (Jn. 7. 37-39).
 

 I must admit the pilgrimage to the Holy Land caused a special tension within me.  On the one hand I was a keen photographer, visiting an exotic place. At times I behaved like a typical tourist, eager to take lots of pictures, seeking mementoes, instead making the best of the present moment. I swung between praying and taking pictures –sometimes on my knees!
 

 Now, as I approach the end of my pilgrimage through life, I realize that God has been with me through this long journey.  I’ve met Him in many different ways, usually in the routine of life, but also in the joyful, sad and hilarious moments.  I’ve met the Lord in the variety of pilgrims travelling with me. They were very like some, but not all, of Chaucer’s pilgrims.
 

For me what matters most is the lasting effect of my pilgrimage, once it’s ended.  For more than eighty years I’ve been a pilgrim journeying to the most holy of shrines –the Kingdom of God.  If I don’t meet Him there my journey through life will have been a waste of time.  But if I do, all the hardships on the road will have been well worthwhile!  My life will have been a real pilgrimage.

Isidore O.P.

The next posting will be on 25^th October.