FATHER PAUL writes ... - April 2008
At the beginning of The Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer writes that April is the month when folk long to go on pilgrimages. What was true in the 14th century is equally true in 2008. This month a sizeable number of people from S. Francis are looking forward to the annual pilgrimage to Walsingham.
What, I wonder, is so special about a pilgrimage? In the Middle Ages travel was a real adventure. Many people never left their home town or village. Part of the thrill for Chaucer’s pilgrims on the road to Canterbury was the novel experience of being away from home, and of not being quite sure what they would meet along the way.
We, on the other hand, live in an age of easy, perhaps excessive, mobility. Millions of people travel huge distances every day, whether for work or pleasure. They climb into airliners with no more excitement than previous generations climb into a bus. They go on package holidays to Thailand, explore the antiquities of Peru or cruise to the Antarctic. As for journeys between London and Canterbury, or Bournemouth and Walsingham, they can be done in just a few hours. The only thing that evokes wonder or gratitude is not getting stuck on a traffic jam on the M25.
People may travel a lot these days, but they don’t always travel happily or hopefully. All that movement reflects, even intensifies, an inner restlessness. We may have all the time and money we need to go wherever we want on this earth, but what about the journey of life? We can go to work, or to the shops or on holiday as much as we like, but where are we going in the end? Are we, in fact, going anywhere at all? Some modern writers would say no, we’re not. Richard Dawkins, for example, would say that our only purpose on this earth is to pass on our genes.
But the Christian faith tells us that we are in fact going somewhere other than the grave, and that the end or purpose of human existence lies beyond this world. In these days of Eastertide we rejoice not only that Jesus is alive but also that the new life that he shares with us through baptism is for eternity, and that it will find its completion or fulfilment in heaven. He has prepared a place for us and he wants us to be with him where he is.
So, to return to the question I asked earlier, the special thing about a pilgrimage is that it helps us to think more deeply about where we’re going and how we get there. The journey to a holy place like Walsingham is an opportunity to reflect on the journey of life. How far have we come? What are the difficulties we’re meeting on the way? What is there to give thanks or pray for? Where can we find the resources to continue the journey? How can we help, and be helped by, our fellow pilgrims? Can we rediscover our most important travelling companion, Jesus himself - someone who isn’t just waiting for us at our journey’s end but is also at every moment and every step the Way, the Truth and the Life? A pilgrimage of even just a few days can be so valuable because it helps us to answer questions like these.
If you’re not coming to Walsingham this month, please pray for those of us who are, as we will pray for you. And remember that the most important thing about a journey is to know where you are going. As it says of the Shrine itself in the preface to the current Walsingham Pilgrim Manual: "Here there is for us a ladder allowing a glimpse of the ultimate goal of our earthly pilgrimage which is the life of heaven".
Fr Paul