Who is a Pilgrim?
We are all pilgrims
Each one of us, whether we are aware of it or not, has the desire to respond to the meaning of his or her existence, a desire that pushes us to “leave our homeland” like Abraham, our father in faith. We are not satisfied by diversions or other ephemeral pleasures; we need an answer. It is a tension born from our humanity, because it expresses the need to find our identity on this earth.
This is man’s calling, to discover the dimension in which he feels like he belongs. For this reason we begin the journey adding our personal piece to the great human and divine adventure, the Story of Salvation, that begins with a call and a promise; the friendship of God. Living the Pilgrim Lifestyle means relocating oneself inside a series of values profoundly related to our humanity..
Ask and it will be given
Journeys of the Spirit are open to any age, to any religion, to any human being. A pilgrim can be whoever asks for help or wishes to open himself to God: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” A pilgrim can be whoever is far away from God and wishes to be reconciled, whoever has doubt and wishes for clarity.
A pilgrim may be you, now, feeling your heart vibrating as you read these words.
A poem from a pilgrim—John Paul II
“These places are already indelibly etched in my memory, from the time when in 1965 I had the opportunity to visit the Holy Land:
I come across these places which you have filled with yourself once and for all. … Oh place … You were transformed so many times before you, His place, became mine. When for the first time He filled you, you were not yet an outer place; you were but His Mother’s womb. How I long to know that the stones I am treading in Nazareth are the same which her feet touched when she was Your only place on earth. Meeting You through the stone touched by the feet of Your Mother. Oh, corner of the earth, place in the holy land – what kind of place are you in me? My steps cannot tread on you; I must kneel. Thus I confirm today you were indeed a place of meeting. Kneeling down I imprint a seal on you. You will remain here with my seal – you will remain – and I will take you and transform you within me into the place of new testimony. I will walk away as a witness who testifies across the millennia.”
(Karol Wojtyla, Poezje. Poems, Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków 1998, p. 168).