Sr John Mary Talk - Pentecost Pilgrimage

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Welcome to PENTECOST PILGRIMAGE

Some initial counsel from your pilgrimage guide

Around the face of the earth, on every continent, thousands of fellow pilgrims will be stepping out on our Pentecost pilgrimage. Some at dawn, others at sunset and some in the middle of the night. One heart, one mind, one destination... He who awaits us in the upper room in Jerusalem.

Why would one undertake a pilgrimage? Why does the idea of a pilgrimage stir something deep inside me and draw me toward a destination?

It is because this restlessness is written upon your heart by God your creator. A pilgrimage is not aimless wandering, rather it is a journey with a purpose, and that purpose is to honour and encounter God.

Gaudium et Spes (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World) says in its preface that the Church is a community of disciples “led by the Holy Spirit in their journey to the kingdom of the Father.”

The term "pilgrim" comes from the Latin "peregrinus," meaning "foreigner" or "stranger". That is truly what we are. Awaiting His return, as Jesus prayed “They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth.” And as a down payment of His promise He “set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” 2 Cor 1:22

The desire to be a pilgrim is written on all our hearts, God has put it there, He desires we move toward Him. God commanded Israel to make pilgrimage to the Temple, the dwelling place of God on the earth. Now that dwelling place is you. “Or do you not realize about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you?” 2 Cor 13:5. Our journey must be an interior one, as all pilgrimages should be.

For these reasons the Catholic Church has a tradition of pilgrimage that reaches back into its Judeo roots. A thousand years before the birth of Jesus the temple was built in Jerusalem and all Jewish men were obliged to present themselves at it for the major feasts (Deuteronomy 16:16-17). During the journey to the Temple, “pilgrim songs” would be sung (also called “songs of ascent”) which were Psalms 119-133 in the Greek Septuagint, now Psalms 120-134. Open your bible and see the annotation in italics beside each of these Psalms. Jesus joyfully sang these songs with His parents and relations every year as they made pilgrimage to the Temple from the early age of twelve. This practice survives even to this day, our Jewish friends call these feasts “Pilgrimage Festivals”.

One of Israel's three mandatory festivals was Shavu’ot, known as the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, occurring 50 days after Pesach, one of the other of the mandatory pilgrimage festivals, otherwise known as the Feast of Unleavened Bread, or Passover.

Can you see God’s gentle hand guiding you? Yes. You were called to this pilgrimage, and it is God who has called you to joyfully share it with Him and so many brothers and sisters around the world. The Psalms were sung on the journey. This tells us something of the state of heart of the pilgrims. We are called to journey as a people of hope and joy, most especially during this time as we head toward Pentecost.

Blessings from your Pentecost pilgrimage guide,
Martin Brennan

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