Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage is a concept that is experiencing a renewal throughout the world.  People are  increasingly interested in a spirituality that draws them outside themselves and into the world.  While Gary and I were in Ireland, we thought of our time there as a pilgrimage in general, but we also went on specific pilgrimages as well.  Up in the northern part of the republic of Ireland, at a place called Glenn Colmcille, there are several sites associated with Saint Columba.  (“Columba” is actually a version of “Colmcille.”)

We purchased a little booklet that outlined a pilgrim path or “Turas” that incorporated several stopping points where certain prayers were proscribed.  The sites were an interesting mixture of Christian and pre-christian traditions.  The beginning and ending point was St. Columba’s Church, while other stops were at standing stones with Celtic designs and crosses inscribed on them and a cairn of stones some of which were said to have healing powers if you passed them around your body three times.  There was a holy well, St. Columba’s chair and also his bed.  At the bed, which was a large flat rock, we were instructed to lie down as the ground underneath it was filled with healing energy.  At the well, we were told to add to the enormous rock cairn before leaving, for good luck.  One standing stone had a hole in it through which some had been said to see heaven.  (Every place we went was beautiful, so I have no doubt that heaven looks at least something like what I saw through that tiny hole.)

What I find powerful about doing something like this pilgrimage, is that, as you take on the challenge of finding each site, you are setting ordinary time aside.  You are on a quest to find certain places, and to spend some time with God, with the Holy, but you are also on a quest to go deeper into yourself.  A pilgrimage takes you out of the usual mindset of hurrying from one activity to another, from one responsibility to another, and invites you into sacred time and space.  In sacred time, there is no need to hurry.  Everything unfolds as it must.  In sacred space, you discover that you are exactly where you need to be.  Your soul gains just what it most desires.

I believe there are opportunities for pilgrimage embedded throughout our daily lives.  We just have to shift our perspective a bit in order to see them.  What sacred moments do you notice, when you open up to these possibilities?  What holy sites are hidden in plain sight?