Practice the discipline of gratitude. Look for the grace that can shine through in even the most seemingly mundane of circumstances.
When you return, your re-entry may not be easy. The journey may have changed you in ways that those at home will find hard to understand.
Nevertheless, pilgrims are meant to share their new-found wisdom and insights with others. And perhaps more than anything, they are meant to realize that our entire life is meant to be a pilgrimage, a seeking after the divine in moments both ordinary and extraordinary. Read More About Pilgrimage:. My book Holy Rover: Journeys in Search of Mystery, Miracles, and God is a memoir told through trips to a dozen holy sites around the world.
Her website Spiritual Travels features holy sites around the world. Skip to content. Bob Sessions photo Interested in a spiritual journey? For some, faith has been a consistent practice, but not something felt deeply.
Sometimes, you just need to take a moment and process. It may be a season of extraordinary busyness where slowing down is needed. A pilgrimage is unique in that at the same time that you are getting out of the day-to-day, it is also a time of spiritual and personal contemplation.
You can use the time to pray, to mourn, to reflect, or simply be. The Camino is well-known for its ability to bring people together, as just one example. People that go in groups find that over miles walked they connected with those they came with and have added new friends to their group. Many discover friendships that last well beyond the days of pilgrimage. You can answer the call to pilgrimage because of an itch, a whim, an impulse. Adventures can be even more rewarding when you go into them with few expectations, preconceived ideas of the experiences, or too much time to make plans.
So make sure your passport is up-to-date and be ready to answer in the affirmative when the trip of a lifetime comes to call. Ready to go on an adventure of your own?
Whatever your reason for pilgrimage may be, we invite you to discover more about the destinations we travel to each year. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Pope John Paul II, you worked tirelessly to bring a message of hope and love to the whole world.
Pray for us as we try to bring that same message to the people in front of us today. Join us for a free webinar series designed for group leaders at any stage of the discernment process. The thought of traveling solo can seem intimidating.
Explore the ways in which solo travel can offer a beautiful sense of freedom and self-discovery. By the thirteenth century, the idea of the pilgrimage as penance had developed and taken root in the church as was recognised as a legitimate form of penance.
The bishop could impose a penance for a serious ecclesiastical crime and the pilgrimage was a favourite form. Private penances could also be performed by pilgrimage. From this penitential system came the granting of indulgences. The form after committing a sin became sin, confession, absolution, penalty.
These penalties were graded and there duration specified in days, weeks and years. However these penances could be reduced by performing a good work such as pilgrimage. The Church took the power to grant pardons or indulgences for sins, saving the recipient from a fixed duration in purgatory. The sale of these indulgences at holy sites and shrines became a major source of income for the Church.
In addition to this, a form of judicial penance existed, whereby a person could be sentenced to carry out a pilgrimage. The Inquistion adopted this procedure as a penalty for heretics in the south of France.
In addition to these official reasons for pilgrimage there existed several unofficial ones. He became beyond the reach of the law and could not be arrested or taken to civil court. The reasons for the contemporary pilgrim to undertake such a journey are less immediately obvious. The destination of the modern pilgrim has declined in importance compared to medieval times.
One notable exception is Santiago de Compostela, perhaps now the most famous Christian pilgrim destination. Even with this, however, it is the journey towards this site that is seen to be the key to growth and insight, the shrine being percieved merely a way of signifying the end of that journey.
However Christopher Lewis, Dean of Christ Church , spoke clearly and convincingly of the importance of the return home and its place within the pilgrimage. Just as the journey outwards and the destination are opportunities for spiritual growth and understanding, so the return home must offer integration and the putting into practise those insights gained whilst away. Occasionally the modern pilgrim will undertake a journey out of penance — is a Holy Year for the trail to Santiago de Compostela.
Anyone who undertakes this journey will get double the amount of time remitted from purgatory. The pains experienced on the journey turn into an opportunity for spiritual penitence and humility. Many healthy people, fit and trained for the event might feel sure of themselves and their abilities at the beginning of a journey.
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