"The Pilgrim's Way" is a presentation I gave at St. Margaret Mary Parish in Lower Burrell, PA (Greensburg Diocese about an hour from Pittsburgh) on March 22, 2014 during a weekend retreat using the 2012 film "The Way" starring Martin Sheen and directed by his son Emilio Estevez. This presentation was given to the parish at large on a Saturday evening as part of the parish's intergenerational catechesis program - for the adults and older teens while Sr Jennifer spoke to the junior high kids and Joan Duncan and catechists gave a pilgrimage presentation to K-4.
The plan was to give those not participating in the "Lenten pilgrimage" retreat to get a taste of what we were doing and perhaps entice people to consider making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, a Marian shrine, Rome, or even a local shrine or the Cathedral.
The idea was to introduce and deepen the delights of the pilgrimage, inner and outer.
7. What is a pilgrimage?
• A journey: a really long walk
• Moving from one place to another
• In body
• In spirit
• A chance to be apart
• To just breathe
• A holy work
• A chance to encounter, to glimpse, mystery
8. Why?
• To take a really long walk
• Pursue a spiritual quest
• Ask for graces and favors
• To thank God for graces and favors
• To fulfill a vow
• To atone for sin
• To figure something out (discern)
• To seek guidance
• Healing
• Everyone has their own reasons
13. • The belief that God responds
to prayer1
• The conviction that God is
present at these holy sites2
• The desire to make a sacred
journey3
Three requisites for an authentic
pilgrimage
17. The pilgrimage is where forgiveness
can happen
• Stories
• Time
• Food
• Discovery
• We seek for answers we
cannot find at home
• Travel = travail
18. To be a pilgrim: one who undertakes a
a journey with deep purpose
• The call
• The longing
• “To move you from a
dependence on how
others see the the
world to imagining how
you might walk your
own path to the holy
ground of your heart’s
desire.” -- Phil
Cousineau
19. Pilgrimage in a world of seekers
• “Not I -- or anyone else,
can travel that road for
you. You must travel it
yourself.” Walt
Whitman
20. • “The traveler, the
pilgrim, cannot find
deep meaning in their
journey until they
encounter what is truly
sacred.” – Phil
Cousineau
21. When we no longer know where to
turn the journey has just begun
(Phil Cousineau)
23. THE GEOGRAPHICAL PILGRIMAGE
IS THE SYMBOLIC ACTING OUT OF
AN INNER JOURNEY. THE INNER
JOURNEY IS THE INTERPOLATION
OF THE MEANINGS AND SIGNS OF
THE OUTER JOURNEY. ONE CAN
HAVE ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER.
IT IS BETTER TO HAVE BOTH.
(THOMAS MERTON)
24. THE SEARCH IS WHAT ANYONE WOULD
UNDERTAKE IF HE WERE NOT SUNK IN THE
EVERYDAYNESS OF HIS OR HER OWN LIFE … TO
BECOME AWARE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF THE
SEARCH IS TO BE ON TO SOMETHING. NOT TO
BE ON TO SOMETHING IS TO BE IN DESPAIR.
(WALKER PERCY “THE MOVIEGOER”)
25. WE CANNOT FIND GOD IN NOISE
OR AGITATION. NATURE:
TREES, FLOWERS, AND THE
GRASS GROW IN SILENCE. THE
STARS, THE MOON, AND THE
SUN … MOVE IN SILENCE. (MOTHER
TERESA)
34. RESOURCES
- The Art of Pilgrimage: The Seekers Guide to Making Travel Sacred by Phil Cousineau
- The Way - 2011 film directed by Emilio Estevez
- Jesus: A Pilgrimage by James Martin, SJ
- The Road to Emmaus: Pilgrimage as a Way of Life by Jim Forest
- Camino de Santiago: practical Preparation and Background by Gerald Kelly
Notes de l'éditeur
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence
Some of us of a certain age …The man Who Shot Liberty Valance: John Wayne calls Stoddard, played by Jimmy Stewart, pilgrim because he has come west to settle territories that had not yet become states … like the pilgrims who came to the new world … this works if you accept the myth of manifest destiny – that the white man has a right to the land. Says it once in MacClitock
Tourinsm
The Way so those of you who may not be attending the retreat this weekend can see what it’s about PILGRIMAGE
It can be an inner journey as well, especially if one doesn’t have money to travel or enough health to travel far.Local pilgrimages are good, too, such as to the Cathedral of the diocese – special indulgences attached, even a plenary indulgence if one makes a good confession, prays for the intentions of the Holy Father and receives the Eucharist
Maybe you don’t even know whyAtonement arose from the Middle Ages: people who had committed crimes were sentenced to make a pilgrimage in view of change of life– these were the days when church and state overlapped
To make a pilgrimage, to be a pilgrim JOHN WAYNE PILGRIM … why did he do that? Call people pilgrim?
New perspectives and points of view emerge when we can breathe and see more clearly
To make a pilgrimage, to be a pilgrim JOHN WAYNE PILGRIM … why did he do that? Call people pilgrim?
I think that some people may not even now this explicitly but that this is revealed on the journey
Story of Medjugorie man who went to confession
The Hajj is a pilgrimage to Mecca that every able bodied muslim must carry out once in their life time if they have the means; a religious duty – the outward act of journey and the inner act of intentions.On Feb. 18, 2003, I returned from the Berlin International Film Festival where I had served on the Ecumenical Jury. I wrote to my egroupCine&Media:"I returned to the hotel after a day visiting museums and "Check Point Charlie" to pack and hit the sack early since I had to rise at 3:30 a.m. From Berlin this morning we flew to Frankfurt to change for the non-stop flight to Los Angeles. The waiting area was full of traditionally dressed Muslims returning from the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, that every Muslim seeks to make at least once in his or her life. It was full winter outside and the long pilgrimage, that takes place about three months after the month of Ramadan, must have been exhausting for these fellow Angelinos."As we were waiting for the flight to board, one poor woman had a grand mal seizure, and so the medics came and then her luggage had to be removed from the plane. Thank God it happened there rather than in-flight so she could have care."As we were lining up to board the plane after a significant delay, one young Muslim woman was moving persistently through the crowd to the front, pulling an elderly woman behind her who was limping. The young woman got to the front of the line and asked to be let on because the older woman needed time to get down the jet way. But an older Muslim man shouted with sarcasm, 'Go ahead, go ahead! Everybody just get in front!' The young woman got really mad and yelled back at him. They got into quite an argument and it kept getting louder. I thought for sure the airline people were going to do something. The young woman pled loudly, 'Please, my mother-in-law has a fracture in her foot, she has to sit down.' In fact, all that the woman wanted was for her mother-in-law to sit outside the jet way and not have to stand in line. The airline attendant let her on, but the old man didn't let up his tirade. As they went through the gate, the young woman yelled back at the man, 'You just came from Hajj! You are supposed to do acts of kindness! Not be mean like this!'"On the plane, the two women sat across from me, and I said to the young woman, 'Well, you certainly told the man off!' thinking I was complimenting her because she was hassled and showed such concern for her mother-in-law. But she said to me, 'Was I too loud? Was I too strong?' I told her I thought she was fine, after all. ... But when the older man and his wife passed our seats, the young woman and the man both started apologizing to one another. Making peace.”I was not on an intended journey or pilgrimage but by being open to God pilgrimage happens
The Nun’s Priest’s tale – (the nun’s chaplain) Chanticler and Pertilote … the fox … pride
To feel the call, the movement of soul …
Use a section header for each of the topics, so there is a clear transition to the audience.
Silence is not silent. It is more than the absence of noise. There is a torrent of sound in the desert of modern life
Outward in the sacramental sense that what is invisible is made visible: the workings of God grace in our hearts
Medieval maps of the world – about 1000 exist … some guided pilgrims … at whose center is Jesus Christ
Journeying, telling stories, listening, WERE NOT OUR HEARTS BURNING WITHIN US?
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