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The jubilee year theme calls us to be pilgrims, specifically, pilgrims of hope. The theme calls upon us to embark on a journey of faith with hope. But who is a pilgrim and why are pilgrimages important? The word pilgrimage is not new in the Holy Scripture, the magisterium, and in the history of the Church. Genesis 12:1 is often cited as the first experience of pilgrimage.
In this passage, God calls Abraham to get out of his country, from his family, from his father’s house, to go to the land that God will indicate to him. From this arises an understanding that a pilgrimage embeds faith and obedience to God’s call.
A pilgrim embarks on a journey, one not driven by adventure or the discovery of a cosmological fact. The journey of a pilgrim is thus motivated by faith and a desire for a deeper encounter with God, closeness to him, culminating in what could be described as a religious experience.
The letter to the Philippians chapter 3:20, puts it as a journey towards heaven. Heaven, eschatologically speaking, is where we will have full communion with God, for we will see him as he is (1 Corinthians 13:12). This verse brings a generic view that life on earth is a pilgrimage to heaven, to eternity. No wonder we yearn for communion with our creator, feeling his closeness to us, but also our closeness to him. So, a pilgrimage is a journey on earth towards contemplation of what is heavenly.
The late Pope Benedict XVI says that when “a pilgrim makes the journey, he or she comes out of self to encounter God in a place where he revealed himself or where his grace shone with particular grace and splendour and has produced rich fruits of conversion and holiness among those who believe.” Thus, the conversion and holiness are the impacts created in the journey of change of place from the known to the unknown, from the ordinary to the mysterious. It is a journey marked by prayer, spiritual yearning, and thirst, as the Psalmist in Psalm 63 would say, “like a parched land, my soul thirsts for you, my God.” This yearning leads the pilgrim to a journey of discovery in order to satisfy the desire for God.
Pilgrimages in the Church have existed for a long time. Monasticism came about because of pilgrims who would embark on journeys of solitude into the desert, into the wilderness, in order to draw close to God without worldly distractions. There have been several pilgrimages to the Holy Land, to sites of apparitions, or birthplaces of saints. For pilgrims seeking living water, shrines are special places for living the forms of Christian prayer in the Church.
These journeys express a yearning to be like the saints, or they can also be done to seek God’s forgiveness and repentance for sinners. We should always note that a pilgrimage is a journey of faith, of prayer, of a desired change. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, number 2691, pilgrimages evoke our earthly journey toward heaven and are traditionally very special occasions for renewal in prayer.
Therefore, pilgrimages are not just wonders, nor are pilgrims destitute. Their focus is on God and to experience the mystery and or a healing communion with Him. As a catholic, you have a chance to make a pilgrimage this jubilee year, a journey that will draw you closer to God and bring change to your life. Where and when are you going on pilgrimage?
By Fr. Nicholas Onyait MCCJ
