According to Ian Bradley, Pilgrimage was a symbolic way for the Celts to express the dynamic character of Christian faith. Scripture , likewise, describes the Christian life as a journey. The same idea is expressed artistically by the continuously intertwining of the Celtic knot. He goes on to say that even the liturgies of the Celtic Christian church expressed this fluidity of movement. Their understanding of Pilgrimage was very different from that of the medieval church. Supposedly an old monk said to the young Aiden (missionary to the British in Northern England), "Remember, Aiden, unless the pilgrim carry with him the thing he seeks, he will never find it when he arrives." Pilgrimage, then to the Celts, was an outward sign of an inward journey. A journey of repentance, rebirth, resurrection and renewal. The journey, both outward and inward is held in the creator's hands.
Life itself is a process of continual change. Christians are not static. They carry a sense of hope and expectancy. We are always on" the move", spiritually if not physically. Hebrews 12:1-2 speaks metaphorically of the Christian life as a race and reflects this idea of the movement of the Christian spirit. Even though we are traveling to places like Tara, Glendlough, Whithorn and Iona, the reality is that it isn't necessary. Pilgrimage is possible anywhere and everywhere. We need not even travel to a special "sacred" place for God is everywhere. The crucial question is "Is the pilgrim open to the presence of God?" To be open to God one must be prepared to be open to mystery, loose ends, uncertainty and risk. Your journey may surprise you in that it touches inner places, your vulnerability and your uncertainty.
While a pilgrimage is certainly different from a sight-seeing tour there is fluidity between the two. All depends upon the particular focus of the moment. You will learn new things, see new sights, go back into history. Hopefully, you will experience the Holy. As you discover "the thin" places, those places where the creation seems to be more open to the heavens, where the sacred qualities of the creation may invite The Holy in, God may seem very real to you. Some have said that they also felt closer to the ancient Celtic Saints, as though time melted away. "The unexpected" is to be expected.
A Pilgrimage never finishes completely. You will change, make new friends, gain new insights and live new stories. These will stay with you. It will take some time to make full sense of your journey retrospectively. Your journal will be very useful to you.
May the Holy Spirit be your constant companion as you travel and as you return.
Helpful information:
Feast Days for Celtic Saints
Bridget, Feb. 1st
Patrick, March 17th,
Kevin, June 3rd
Columba, June 9th
Ninian, Aug 26th
The early Christian writer, Evagrius, listed 8 passionate thoughts that block the way to the Holy Spirit or "grieve the spirit". (These later developed into the list of the 7 deadly sins.) You might want to meditate on these to discover if they are present in your thinking or behavior in some way..
- gluttony
- impurity
- avarice
- sadness
- anger
- akedia (spiritual restlessness)
- vainglory
- pride
