Pilgrimages
One of the most dynamic—and ancient—means of prayer, renewal, and reflection is the pilgrimage. Pilgrimages can be local or far from home. Pope Benedict XVI summarized pilgrimages this way: “To go on pilgrimage is not simply to visit a place to admire its treasures of nature, art or history. To go on pilgrimage really means to step out of ourselves in order to encounter God where he has revealed himself, where his grace has shone with particular splendour and produced rich fruits of conversion and holiness among those who believe.” (Address at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, 6 November 2010)
Local/Regional Pilgrimages
- The Shrine of Saint Anthony
(https://shrineofstanthony.org/)
Ellicott City, MD - The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (The Baltimore Basilica)
(https://www.americasfirstcathedral.org/)
Baltimore, MD - The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
(https://www.nationalshrine.org/)
Washington, DC - The National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa
(https://www.czestochowa.us/)
Doylestown, PA - The Saint John Paul II National Shrine
(https://www.jp2shrine.org/en/index.html)
Washington, DC - The National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton
(https://setonshrine.org/)
Emmitsburg, MD
National/International Pilgrimages
- The Camino de Santiago
(http://santiago-compostela.net/)
One of the most famous pilgrimages is the Camino de Santiago (the Way of St. James), a large network of ancient pilgrim routes stretching across Europe to end at the tomb of St. James in Santiago de Compostela in north-west Spain. The most popular route is the nearly 500 mile “French Way” crossing the Pyrennes from France and proceeding across northern Spain. (A good movie to get acquainted is The Way with Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez.) - 10 Catholic pilgrimages that don’t require a passport
(https://uscatholic.org/articles/202006/10-catholic-pilgrimages-dont-require-passport-32094)
Holy ground is everywhere—even down America’s backroads. This article By Susan Salaz in US Catholic magazine reviews a book, The Art of Pilgrimage: The Seeker’s Guide to Making Travel Sacred (Conari Press), by Phil Cousineau and reviews the ten pilgrimages. Cousineau believes we are all pilgrims. Recent events have taught us that we are all on a journey, at times together, but the pilgrimage is our own. We are reminded that we can make all of our journeys more intentional. With the roads to the exalted places we all want to visit more crowded than ever, we look more and more, but see less and less. But we don’t need more gimmicks and gadgets; all we need do is reimagine the way we travel. If we truly want to know the secret of soulful travel, we need to believe that there is something sacred waiting to be discovered in virtually every journey.
The book can be found on Amazon and Kindle. These are excellent resources to enable all of us to make our travel more sacred, creating our own pilgrimages.
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