Peregrinatio: An Extraordinary Journey

It's summertime and many of us are pulling out our camping gear, googling exotic places to visit or setting up our patio furniture to soak up the warm weather. This is the time of year when we strive to move away from the mundane habits of everyday life and explore something new, something exciting and maybe even a little challenging. Though some of us may be armchair travelers, whose personal journey is an inner exploration; there are a few of us who decide to take that first step on a journey of discovery to a place unknown or to one of special significance.

We call it a holiday or a vacation, where we vacate our everyday lives to live a little differently, seeing places and people from other areas, and tasting food or experiencing the culture outside of our own comfortable environment. What would happen if you let the spirit move you into a journey of the unknown? Would this journey that you embark on, whether it took you across a continent, an ocean or out onto your back deck, be so much more than just a time away from it all?

Why not make it a pilgrimage, or as the early Celtic Christians called it: a peregrination, a journey undertaken away from your homeland for spiritual fulfillment. The idea of a pilgrimage dates as far back in the bible to the beginnings of the Old Testament, when Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden, Abraham’s call from God to leave his home and journey to another land and the Israelites journey through the wilderness. This continued into the New Testament with the disciples leaving their homes to follow Jesus and on to Jerusalem as the center for pilgrimages for the early Christians.

This journey, whether physical or inner, is at the very heart of or Christian spirituality. The significance is only limited to our own willingness to explore. To be ready to go to wherever the spirit might take us is a way of seeing ourselves not only connected to each other but connected to the spirit. How extraordinary to leave behind our usual ways, our comforts and step into the unknown. The early Christians believed that in their journey they were making their way to God, or to their own place of resurrection.

My pilgrimage last year to Ireland began in a book store in Portland, Oregon. I pulled down a book about visiting sacred places and suddenly what began to unfold were opportunities to travel to places I never thought I would be able to see. I was open to experience the unknown and followed the spirit as my journey unfolded in front of me. My suggestion to you this summer is that you make it something more, something extraordinary. Your peregrination awaits you this summer. As you begin, open your heart to making your way to God and your journey will become extraordinary.