DIY Pilgrimage

[Splagchnizomai]

I’m thinking about walking to a neighboring parish on Good Friday for Veneration of the Cross. Not too far, Google claims that it’s 5K (3.1 miles) from my front door to the Church.

Tell me if you’ve ever done a Do-It-Yourself Pilgrimage.

 

[Lancer]

Yes I have…every time it has given me an undefinable sense…or feeling of peace and joy…can’t figure it out…it seems to elicit a palpable sense of communion within the universality of our Catholic Church. I have done this here in CONUS and abroad…sometimes a simple short Pilgrimage (DIY) and others to designated Shrines/Churches/Basilicas…it doesn’t seem to matter…my feelings are always the same…a somewhat mysterious sense pleasing the Lord…if I can put it that way.

As in other special “Years” of the Church (like the Year of Saint Paul)…and maybe for the upcoming “Year of Faith” …the Pope will call for the faithful to make a Pilgrimage within the context of the “Year” – ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=117270 – and offer other substitute feasible options for those who can’t go to Rome or the Holy Land…and may even offer a Plenary Indulgence with the normal stipulations and others defined by the Holy Father.

Lastly FYI:

John Paul II and the Marian Year

In his Marian Year encyclical Redemptoris Mater (Mother of the Redeemer, 1987), Pope John Paul II spoke of the “geography of faith” and Marian devotion in regard to shrines. He asked for a qualitative approach to liturgical and devotional practice.

The Central Committee for the 1987-1988 Marian Year issued an instructional letter on the mission of Marian shrines. Among its directives the instruction encouraged shrines to present in the Eucharistic celebrations a genuine image of the nature of the Church and of the Eucharist" and “reveal the fullness of the paschal mystery, communion with the universal Church, and the presence of Mary in word and symbol.”

Further, it encouraged shrines:

to cultivate the via pulchritudinis, that is, a sense of God’s beauty revealed in Mary;
to provide an atmosphere for discerning and responding to vocation as a gift of God, for, a shrine is a sign of this mysterious relationship between God’s call and the person’s response;
to be associated with or to sponsor a work of charity, such as a home for the sick, a school for the disadvantaged, a retirement center;
to foster ecumenical prayer, encounters, dialogues.
campus.udayton.edu/mary/meditations/samaha.html
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Thanks for sharing.
Pax Christi

 

[Splagchnizomai]

Lancer, thank you for recounting your personal experience and for providing the links!