The Purposes And Challenges Of Pilgrimage

What exactly is a pilgrimage? A pilgrimage is a journey that people take for many reasons. Most people go on a pilgrimage to form a stronger connection with God, they ask for healing and forgiveness and follow him in his footsteps while visiting sacred places. On this journey people benefit from their connection with God in ways that are too difficult to explain but in the end they find the purpose of it all and the answers that they had asked themselves in the beginning were answered. Pilgrimages bring many benefits like being healed or having questions answered that have been asked by a person. Pilgrims travel many miles just so they can experience the benefits of the journey, they come from all over and they each have their own story. Some might be there for religious purposes but others could be there to find themselves or even just to admire the sights during the walk. Taras Grescoe went on a journey to one of the most famous European pilgrimage sites. His journey changed him as there were many benefits and stories that he saw and heard.

The stories that he heard had touched him and were inspiring, each person had a story that defined them. There was “a young mother carring and pushing her two blond-haired infants over the mountain trails and switchbacks, a feat of almost superhuman endurance. ” “A 60 year old man paused just long enough to tell me he walked all the way from Rome, 40 miles a day. ” “ next to a purling stream, I came across a pilgrim who’d lost his right leg and was being borne to Santiago on his trusty mare Lorena – named after his daughter, herself only recently recovered from leukemia. ” Every story was different but they each had their own special meaning which is why their stories touched him. His journey changed him for the better and his expectations changed, he was no longer concerned about self-image, he sought to fill his appetite with healthy foods, and he finally realized that the amount of one's travel experience is inversely comparable to the speed at which one travels, he experienced the benefits of his journey.

Although there are benefits there are also difficulties and these difficulties come in many forms. In the 14 hundreds pilgrimages were long and difficult, some of the voyages took up to 30 days. It took about 18 days to get from london to lyon, and from canterbury to rome it took about a month depending on the channel crossing which was hard to predict. Sir Herve do leon, a knight, was kept at sea for 15 days because a storm occurred, he lost his horse over board and arrived injured and weakened. That isn't the only hard part of the voyage, during nightfall they were offered shelter, it was divided into nobility, merchants and others. The nobilities were admitted indoors where they got to stay in a castle or monastery, while the ordinary travelers were put into a guest house outside the gate. Merchants and others were put into inns, the inns were dirty, crowded, flea infested, and there were more that two people to a bed, they had no choice of food and the only thing to drink was beer. They went through a lot of difficulties but they never gave up, and they found what they had been looking for. Finally we have our purpose of the journey, the purpose of the journey is the experience that you go through.

When trying to get closer to God you get closer to yourself and sometimes those around you, the purpose is to find your answers but sometimes the people around you might have them, “ The pilgrim who sets out alone shares a bond with others who journey on the same path: the aches, the pain, and the triumphs. ” and yet you are alone because you have not just traveled to a physical place, but into your soul as you slowly find yourself. You find yourself during the journey, but you also find the faith, loyalty, and the love that you have put into that pilgrimage, you are no ordinary traveler your map is in your heart. Pilgrimages help you find what you're looking for, nut they also test your faith, and strength with the difficulties that you must face. But in the end you know that there will always be benefits and a purpose to look forward to.