“Movement is prayer. The journey is vision.” – St. Isaac the Syrian. / Image created in Canva by author.
For a long time, I had felt disconnected from my inner self because I was constantly distracted by hypnotic screens, social media, the party scene, and a constant need for stimuli. Reacquaintance occurred through multiple cross-country trips, getting lost on the backroads until I pulled into Nazareth. The real journey was from the head to the heart.
Discovering Jesus on the road seems fitting, given his love for traveling on foot and his remarkable ability to connect with people exactly where they are. He has a unique way of naming our needs and mending the loose sinews of our hearts. Jesus is the physician of the soul, healing the entire person and freeing us to serve as medics for our fellow wounded.
One of the earliest names for Christianity is “the Way,” according to Bishop Kallistos Ware,
“To be a Christian is to be a traveler. We are on a journey through the inward space of the heart, a journey not measured by the hours of our watch or the days of the calendar, for it is a journey out of time into eternity. Christianity is more than a theory about the universe, more than teachings written down on paper; it is a path along which we journey- in the deepest and riches sense, a way of life.”
The early church believed that humans are biologically related to the animal kingdom and spiritually connected to the angelic realm. Therefore, humans are ontologically linked to both the material and the spiritual worlds, and according to the Fathers, they are the imago mundi, or a little universe: microcosmos. Similarly, a pilgrimage is a microcosm of our life’s journey from birth to death and resurrection.
Pilgrimages hold a unique place in the human experience. This mode of travel is non-dualistic. There’s no divorcing the spiritual and physical aspects. To be a pilgrim is to be intentional. Revelation tends to come with blisters and bloody feet. Throughout history, people from different cultures and faiths have embarked on pilgrimages to seek a deeper connection with the divine.
The ancient Egyptians made their way to Abydos to worship Osiris, the god of the afterlife. Medieval Christians journeyed to Santiago de Compostela, a city in northwestern Spain, to pay homage to the apostle James. Whether it’s a journey to a distant land or a spiritual destination within, the act of pilgrimage can transform us in profound and unexpected ways, revealing the sacramental nature of our existence.
Join me as I explore the depths of the pilgrimage and share field notes from the Way. We will delve into the idea of a road trip as a means of enlightenment.
May these stories encourage you to venture onward and embrace the mystery of the Search.
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