Pilgrimage

A post by Rob Gorman, Franciscan Novice of the Community of the Incarnation

MARTYR'S BAY - "IONA OF MY HEART" by summonedbyfells, Flickr

Dear Friends, during this time of Lent and the journey leading us to the sacred season of Easter and the Resurrection, I have been thinking about pilgrimage, and the walking pilgrimages I have completed with my wife.

I have always felt that Lent is a time of Pilgrimage, leading up to Easter and especially Holy Week, as well as the Great Easter Vigil. Holy Week is the time my wife and I used to walk our pilgrimages. Walking has been a sanctuary for me; it is how I spend my afternoon meditation and contemplation. Instead of sitting, I walk in nature and am surrounded by the beauty that God created. Holy Week, for me, is the perfect length of time to do a walking pilgrimage of six or seven days. Reflecting on Easter and walking alongside pilgrims from throughout the centuries. The Easter Vigil or the Easter Morning Sunrise Service is the perfect way to end and complete any pilgrimage.

The first pilgrimage my wife and I participated in was the Scottish Cross which is from Corran a small village west of Fort William in northern Scotland to the island of Iona, the cradle of Christianity in Scotland. The Pilgrimage takes place every Holy Week beginning on Palm Sunday and reaches Iona on Holy Saturday.

This is not for the faint of heart; it is a beautiful but rugged ramble of just over a hundred miles, carrying a cross in some very remote areas of the Scottish Highlands. There are usually about 25 pilgrims and the accommodations can be spartan: simple community halls or churches, sometimes with no showers. Pilgrims are assigned cooking, clean up, or tea and sandwich making duties.

The weather can be challenging but my oh my it is a place of grand beauty, and I felt the presence of God in every step.

It really is a wonderful pilgrimage with morning prayer and evening services, or hymn practice in the evening (yes we practiced in preparation for the vigil service). We would stop along our daily route to give thanks for the beauty of our walk and praying to God. Every day is different and it involves prayer, contemplation, and the Eucharist, celebrated in our case by a Roman Catholic priest and a Scottish Episcopal priest. If a village had a pub, we would pay it a visit in the evening and usually ended up singing songs.

We celebrated the Great Easter Vigil on Saturday evening as a community of Scottish Cross pilgrims, and on Easter Morning we celebrated in Iona Abbey with Pilgrims from all over the world.

We Celts believe in thin places, a place where we are closer to God. I believe Iona is one of those places, great beauty surrounded by water, and even before St Columba arrived in the 6th century, a place to be completely with God. This holy walk can be moving and challenging: I highly recommend it.

Cross Celtic Scotland by papagnoc, Pixabay

A couple of years later my wife and I walked St Cuthbert’s Way (St Cuthbert was the Abbot of the Holy Isle community in the later part of the 6th century). Walking from Melrose Abbey in the borders of Scotland to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne in North East England- the path is about 65 miles long. We again chose Holy Week to do this pilgrimage.

The border country between Scotland and England is another place of beauty and splendor. This time we stayed in small hotels or Bed and Breakfasts, a bit of a departure from church halls and community centers with no showers.

Britain is dotted with Holy sites and St Cuthbert’s Way is no different. The walk is dotted with old ruined monasteries destroyed during the English reformation or the border wars between Scotland and England. The path itself is very well marked and easy to follow.

The Holy Isle is a tidal island with a causeway leading to the island. One of the crowning moments of the pilgrimage is the gathering of pilgrims, stopping at the Holy Island Causeway on the mainland on Good Friday. Pilgrims wait until all are gathered and then together walk barefoot across the sands at low tide, just as St Aidan the first Abbot who founded the Lindisfarne community walked in the 6th Century.

The Easter services take place in St Mary the Virgin Church dating from about 1180. You can feel the prayers throughout the centuries as you sit in this small church which is full of pilgrims from all over Britain for the Great Easter Vigil.

The mass is celebrated by all denominations, though the actual service is either Anglican or Catholic. It was such a joy to be with fellow pilgrims in a church over a thousand years old, celebrating the Easter Vigil.

My wife and I stayed on the Holy Isle a few days staying in a B&B connected with the Northumbria Community. The Holly Isle is another place of beauty and wonder and well worth a visit.

This Holy Week I bid you good pilgrimage, whether you are walking in your local park, in the footsteps of a Saint or Mystic or, just going where your feet take you.

Good walking and Happy Easter.

If you are interested in either the Scottish Cross or St Cuthbert’s way check out their web sites. scottishcross.org.uk. and stcuthbertsway.info

Rob Gorman has lived in the US since 1974. He served an apprenticeship as a construction electrician in Scotland and worked in a number of countries before settling in the Pacific Northwest. He has been a union member since he was eighteen years old, and, though retired, Rob is still a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 46 in Seattle, Washington. Rob is married to his one time apprentice, Karole, his wife of forty-three years. They live in Northwest Washington.

Rob is a third year novitiate in the Community of the Incarnation.