IN the opening remarks of his letter “Meaningful pilgrimages” (CL 12/3/00), John R. Kane is negative and morale-destroying.
The first remark that “local pilgrimages seem to be the least satisfying” of this Jubilee Year’s organised events, is negative because it is given without a thread of evidence to support it. In a 500-word letter to the Leader, evidence to support such a damaging opinion is a reasonable expectation of a reader.
Secondly, his letter’s next remark undervaluing a pilgrimage “lunch” is morale-destroying, because ordinary people are left with the impression that, for a pilgrimage to be meaningful, it needs to be “grandiose”.
I think that the parable of the pharisee and the publican (Lk 18:9-14) extolling humility is instructive here, as to what God looks for in the heart of a pilgrim. Critical remarks, such as these, which belittle “lunch in a park followed by a service in a church”, as “hardly worthy” of the title of pilgrimage, demean our common humanity.
Jesus himself held lunch in a park attended by the apostles, at which he multiplied five loaves and two fishes as food for 500 pilgrims (Matt 14:13-21). In this case, Jesus is the paradigm of a sacred site.
And today we can only surmise what must have been each pilgrim’s own encounter with the one, true, Hebrew God, after that remarkable meal following upon a journey into the wilderness.
The confusion of these opening remarks clearly arises out of the author’s failure to define pilgrimage. Instead, he describes “real pilgrimages” as when “we go to distant shores”, by which he avoids the definition and boggles interpretation. By first saying what a pilgrimage is, John R. Kane would have made it clear to readers that there are as many ideas about “real pilgrimages” as there are people.
What cannot be denied however is that, for the pilgrim, it is the spiritual encounter with the sacred which is elemental, even though place in general may be important.
The pamphlet “Be a Pilgrim” put out by the Cathedral of St Stephen’s, highlights “personal experience” in the nature of pilgrimage. Under an inside heading, “What is Pilgrimage?” this simply written and well presented cathedral pamphlet tells us that pilgrimage is fundamentally “a journey of discovery”, upon which one meets with the sacred. But just what form this journey should take may be a very individual choice. The pamphlet also notes that “pilgrims are rarely alone” because, on the journey, they are “praying together”.
A pilgrimage, then, is essentially a journey to get in touch with one’s spirituality, which while difficult to define, seems to be a communication between the integrity of self and God.
My own feeling is that spirituality has to do with the great absolutes of life: truth, goodness, freedom, honesty, love, acceptance, compassion, peace and good humour. All of these absolutes are attributes of God. As pilgrims on life’s journey, these are absolutes after which we strive resolutely, in pilgrimage together.
