We Are a Pilgrim People

Have you ever been scared stiff? So frightened that you froze where you were and could not move - not forward, not back - just locked into the place where you stood, too scared to even turn your head or call for help? It’s a terrible experience and when it happens you’ve got to have somebody with you who can help you move and feel safe again.  Physical, mental, or emotional - we are meant to be available to help others when they are in such desperate need.

St Augustine of Hippo wrote that we are an Easter people and in The City of God he wrote “the Church progresses on her pilgrimage amidst this world’s persecutions and God’s consolations.”  And so we are a Pilgrim people passing through this lifetime with our destination Heaven and the KIngdom of Christ.

During the Middle Ages, the journey of a pilgrim was not an easy one. Injury, illness or death was the fate of many. Every pilgrimage would have been extremely difficult and dangerous, in many cases that was part of the process, especially when the pilgrimage was done as an act of penance. Whatever the reason for the journey, one did not go on pilgrimage alone. There was always a companion or guide and more often than not a group of people who travelled together for company and safety.

As Christians, we are pilgrims, travellers on our way to Heaven. Our faith was never meant to be practiced in isolation, but rather together as a community. Remember Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered in my name…” (Matthew 18:20). We have been called to gather together to worship the Lord and to help each other through life.

Christians ... live in their own countries as though they were only passing through. They play their full role as citizens, but labor under all the disabilities of aliens. Any country can be their homeland, but for them their homeland, wherever it may be, is a foreign country. ... They pass their days upon earth, but they are citizens of heaven.  An excerpt From a letter to Diognetus: The Christian in the world

For the full text of the letter please go to CHURCH FATHERS: Epistle to Diognetus (Mathetes) 

Lastly, as Pope Francis said in Assisi, “Let us ask the Lord to always help us find serenity and joy. Here at the Portiuncula, Saint Francis teaches us the joy that comes from seeing those who are near us as traveling companions who understand and support us, just as we are for him or for her. May this meeting open all of our hearts to put ourselves at each other’s disposal.”  

Happy Thanksgiving!