09/08/2014

Good morning.

The ancient spiritual practice of pilgrimage has enjoyed a remarkable revival in recent years. Across Europe people from all walks of life have taken leave of the preoccupations of their daily lives, shouldered a backpack and set out in search of something – healing, the miraculous – or to mark an anniversary, to give thanks. The summer holidays are of course the most popular time to do this. The trouble is that some pilgrimage routes, mainly the ones to Santiago de Compostela in Northern Spain, have become very busy. So it’s well worth exploring the lesser known ones. I’ve just returned from a journey to Austria by train and on the way back we stopped overnight in Aachen in Germany. It was a real discovery – and although I must admit I don’t find the concept of venerating relics very easy – I was moved by the devotion of those who come to Aachen in search of the particular spiritual nourishment if offers.

Our guide sensitively described Aachen’s rise to glory, largely due to Charles the Great – Charlemagne – who was crowned both King and Emperor. His shrine was built in 1215, some 400 years after he died, and it was then that the relics of Aachen were first put on show – the cloths that wrapped the baby Jesus and his broken body when it was placed in the tomb, a dress worn by Mary his mother and the burial shroud of John the Baptist. Whether or not you believe they are the actual objects doesn’t matter – they are much revered.

By its very nature, pilgrimage is bound to be an occasional activity – one for which we prepare and from which we return in some small way changed, healed, and refreshed with our horizons broadened. Let’s pray then for those opportunities - that we may use them wisely, and that we may be enriched by God’s grace and invigorated by his surprising revelations.

Amen.