The Bishop writes…
There are two things that I remember about the Bishop at my own confirmation – he preached about being a pilgrim (and we sang the hymn To Be a Pilgrim), and afterwards he was given a glass of whisky whilst everyone else drank tea. (By the way, that is not intended to be a hint!)
This year, after Easter, I took part in the Caldicot Benefice pilgrimage to the Shrine at Lourdes, at the foot of the French Pyrenees. It was my first visit to this famous place of pilgrimage – the town of Lourdes has 270 hotels for pilgrims. There, in 1858, a fourteen-year old peasant girl, Bernadette Soubirous, saw eighteen visions of a ‘white lady’ who showed her where she would find a water spring which would become a place of healing.
Bernadette's visions were treated with great scepticism by the Church, but after much investigation and questioning the 'white lady' was identified as the Virgin Mary and, since then, millions of people have visited Lourdes to pray for healing. Bernadette became a nun and, after her death at the age of 35, was later declared to be a saint.
The atmosphere of Lourdes has to be experienced, words cannot explain it. Pilgrims make the journey in faith to receive whatever gift God may give them. Some are in wheelchairs or on stretchers; some are volunteers looking after the sick; and the vast majority look fit and well but recognise their own need for God's grace to bring healing of body, mind and spirit. Each day at the Eucharist, I spoke of what it means to be an Easter people and we took part in the evening candlelit processions with thousands of others.
Christians, of course, regard the whole of life as a pilgrimage because we are on a journey, and so we need to be constantly on the move if we are to grow in the faith. On this journey we walk with Jesus and are strengthened by the Holy Spirit. It is good to have times of particular pilgrimage and, as we meditated on the life-sized Stations of the Cross in Lourdes, it reminded me of the Good Friday walk I had taken a few weeks earlier through Ebbw Vale. But the challenge is to see each day as part of our earthly pilgrimage.
On our pilgrimage in Lourdes, we each carried a list of people from the diocese for whom we prayed. We lit a large candle as a symbol of our prayer through the one who is the Light of the World, and in that place of prayer and miracles, we prayed that God would remove all obstacles – of pride, vanity, fear, prejudice, past hurts and self-seeking – that prevent us from hearing his voice and following him.
As we came away from Lourdes, each of us touched by God in a new way, we knew that our pilgrimage continues as we seek to follow the path of discipleship with our brothers and sisters in the Diocese of Monmouth.
Many parishes include pilgrimages as part of their ongoing life but some do not. I would encourage parishes that do not go on pilgrimages to consider what they might gain from this long and valued tradition and to try it.
Each one of us is a pilgrim on a journey. The hymn To Be a Pilgrim reminds us that this is our first avowed intent but we shall need to struggle against disaster, discouragement and dismal stories, so that in the end we shall life inherit - providing we fear not, and labour night and day 'to be a pilgrim'.
May God bless you on your journey,
+ Dominic