A pilgrimage to nowhere

For the last few years I’ve been dreaming of making a pilgrimage.  To where?  Not entirely sure.  I’ve had my sights set on walking at least part of the 500+ mile Camino de Santiago in northern Spain, but something closer and less epic would do.  Although the a pilgrimage has been on the agenda for a while, it keeps getting pushed to the back burner. Now in the post to COVID-19 era, it’s going to be pushed further back.  We’ve been blessed to travel to many places, but I crave the journey of a pilgrimage. The excitement and renewal experience has always appealed to me, as it has to men and women for millennia. 

As I reflect on why that is, I am reminded of something Matthew Kelly wrote in one of his recent Lenten reflections: In life, we are all either pilgrims or tourists.  As he explains it, tourists are the ones who get agitated when the flight is delayed or become flustered when plans fall through unexpectedly.  Pilgrims, however, respond quite differently in these situations: delays, cancellations, and forks in the road are just part of the journey. After all, when you’re on a pilgrimage, the journey is just as important as the destination.  And in this sense I think we all want to be a pilgrim.   

In these days when the SARS-CoV2 pandemic has dramatically changed our world, we find ourselves with a much slower pace of life and more time with family. There’s a lot more time to reflect, meditate, or pray. Quite simply, there’s time to focus on the Journey because there is no destination.  Think of this lockdown not as a quarantine, but as a pilgrimage to nowhere.

So if you’re sitting at home bored, frustrated, and stuck—start acting like a pilgrim.  Learn a new skill, find ways to improve yourself, and deepen your faith.  Self improvement is the journey to the far away city on a hill.  So strap up your boots, pack your bag, and start walking.  And be sure to enjoy the journey.