Dear Father Angelo,
Before a pilgrimage, I usually prepare myself by praying, going to Confession and attending the Mass.
But what is actually the purpose of a pilgrimage?
What can we ask Our Lady during the long hours of walking towards the Sanctuary?
Is there actually something truly important, truly great and useful for our life and for our spiritual growth that we can ask Mary?
If I’m not sure about which grace it is right to ask for, can I ask Mary: “Obtain for me something that is truly necessary for my spiritual and material life?”
What benefits does a well-done pilgrimage obtain for a Catholic?
Thank you and, as always, I will remember you in my prayers.
Dearest,
1. A pilgrimage is a journey made to some sacred place. It’s usually made as an act of religious devotion, to glorify God, the Blessed Virgin or a particular Saint.
Sometimes it’s made for penitential reasons, or to give thanks.
More commonly it’s made to plead for some grace.
2. In the Old Testament all the Jewish men were mandated to do three yearly pilgrimages to Jerusalem, the Holy City.
The had to travel there for the most important holidays, meaning Passover, which was the memorial of the escape from Egypt; Pentecost, which was the memorial of Moses receiving the Law; and for Sukkot, the feast of the booths, which memorialized the water prodigiously provided in the desert by God, through Moses.
Jesus Himself observed these prescriptions.
3. However, there is something new in the Gospels: Saint Luke presents Jesus’ life work in the horizon of a long journey which has Jerusalem, the place of His sacrifice at its end (Lk ch. 9-19).
In light of Jesus’ words reported in the Gospel of Saint John “I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father’” (Jn 16:28), this helps us understand that our life is also a pilgrimage, a journey which has as its destination the Sanctuary of Heaven, God.
Today’s Christians, unlike the Jews, don’t need to make a material and physical pilgrimage, but a spiritual one.
4. Despite this, from the earliest times, some Christians went to visit the places of the redemption. And for this reason, Emperor Adrian had pagan temples built precisely in those places.
In this way, he unknowingly rendered a great service to history, because he pinpointed in a permanent way the places where Jesus was born, lived His hidden life, the Calvary, etc…
With the end of Christian persecution, pilgrimages to those holy sites started. Particularly well-known was Saint Helen’s pilgrimage (Constantine’s mother, who also found the Cross of Our Lord).
On the Calvary, Constantine’s basilica was built, which is still there today, together with all the other holy sites, the destination of many pilgrims.
5. At the same time, again with the end of persecution, some began to make pilgrimages to the martyrs. Those pilgrims were Christians who denied their faith during the persecution and who wanted to be welcomed back into the Church.
They were then sent to the martyrs who, at that time, were living people who had suffered or were suffering because of Christ.
It was as if, by being in communion with their suffering and their merits, they could, in some way, atone for their sin.
Therefore, while in the first three centuries Christians didn’t make pilgrimages, if not spiritual pilgrimages, now they started making pilgrimages in the material sense.
6. At the same time, people started making pilgrimages to the tombs of the martyrs asking for graces, like Saint Lucy did when she journeyed from Syracuse to Saint Agatha’s tomb in Catania to plead for her mother’s healing, which she obtained.
7. So all kinds of pilgrimages started happening: some to give thanks and praise God, some to atone for sins, some to undo a vow, others to ask for particular graces.
Therefore, during a pilgrimage, especially a well prepared and well guided one, during the journey, the mind and the heart are directed towards the goal of that particular pilgrimage.
Prayer and penitence which accompany the pilgrimage (especially if done on foot) render the journey virtuous and meritorious.
The prayer that most easily accompanies pilgrims is the Holy Rosary. It’s an easy prayer to have at hand, which doesn’t require particular aids aside from the Rosary crown to count the Hail Marys and the various decades.
The prayers which make up the Rosary (The Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Glory Be) are prayers that inspire great trust and bring about peace.
In some pilgrimages, the Rosary is accompanied by a Via Crucis, especially in certain places, such as Lourdes.
8. Sometimes people make pilgrimages without a particular goal.
They go on a pilgrimage for recreation, because they don’t know where to go and also because they want to go somewhere quiet where one can sit and be at peace without having to answer to anyone and without having to spend money.
They go to be quiet and at peace.
In this case, we don’t have to tell ourselves: there, I’m making a pilgrimage for this or that reason. It’s like visiting a loved one for no particular reason other than the desire to be together and to have a nice time.
This is also a tacit way to glorify God, the Blessed Virgin and the Saints.
Even going on a pilgrimage without a compelling reason is a good thing. We relive the joy of the old Jewish pilgrims who triumphantly sang: “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord’” (Ps 122:1).
9. Once we enter the Sanctuary we start praying.
Then we think of some cause or another. And we start praying for ourselves or for others.
We feel that our soul has been replenished and we go back home knowing that we have done something good, beautiful, meritorious and pleasing to God.
10. We shouldn’t forget that, nowadays, some people go to a Sanctuary because they know there’s always a priest available there to hear their Confession or to give them a blessing.
11. Finally, you ask me which benefits we bring home with us after a pilgrimage.
Generally speaking, spiritual benefits, like the renewal of our faith, devotion and prayer.
There are then benefits tied to the graces that we asked for and received.
There’s also the benefit of interior peace and serenity.
There’s the benefit of going somewhere new, breathing in new air in every sense of the expression.
There’s the benefit of the renewal of a community or of a family, if the pilgrimage is made together.
There’s the benefit of the remission of venial sins.
There’s also that of the remission of mortal sins if we go to Confession.
In some pilgrimages, there’s also the benefit of a life change.
Finally, there’s the benefit of the remission of temporal punishment to atone for in Purgatory. In other words, there’s the benefit of indulgences.
12. These are the reasons why in the Seventies, while secularization was on the rise everywhere, a holy Churchman said: everything is in crisis today, everything is on the decline, except for pilgrimages to the Sanctuaries.
Everybody goes to the Sanctuaries, saints and sinners alike, believers and non-believers.
Sometimes Sanctuaries give the impression of being an oasis in the desert.
They truly are a blessing from the Lord.
I thank you for your question, I remind you to the Lord and bless you.
Father Angelo
