To Italy and Back Again—Pilgrimage 101

(Read or Click Here to listen to the Podcast)

Hello Friends!

It is so good to be with you again! I hope you are doing well and looking forward to many happy times this summer.

I’m happy to report that after four months of diligent work on the book manuscript, I turned it in to the publisher on May 6, just a few days past the official due date.

When it left my hands, and I had given it my best, a sense of fulfillment that I had “done what was mine to do” (one of my favorite Francis of Assisi quotes) came over me. Then, awe, at God’s marvelous ways, that now a team of others would be multiplying the facets of the book as they combined their gifts with mine.

The whole process has been a wonder from the beginning, and the miracle continues.

The Gift of Pilgrimage

With the editing team working on the manuscript for 30 days, it gave me the month of May free, and I was off on a new adventure!

After nearly 10 years of dreaming about it, God gave me the gift of pilgrimage! I’d heard about Christians taking pilgrimages but hadn’t given it much thought or had a desire to go myself until the Holy Spirit opened my eyes during my spiritual direction training.  

For reasons that only God knows, it has remained a fascination of mine ever since.

The simplest definition of pilgrimage from Webster’s Dictionary is “a journey, especially a long one, made to a sacred place as an act of religious devotion.”

They say that pilgrimage doesn’t begin the day you take your first step on foreign soil or even the day you head to the airport. But your pilgrimage begins the day the idea is first birthed in your heart.

Learning about how strong Christians from the past lived faithfully to God and practiced pilgrimage, it became clear to me that each of our lives is a sacred pilgrimage from birth to death. And, at times, during our earthly pilgrimage, we may have the opportunity to open our hearts to God in a special way, traveling the same paths that other Christians have walked hundreds or even thousands of years before us.

Then, a couple of years into the program, when we were told to select a spiritual giant to study for two years, I chose Francis of Assisi. I was surprised by how powerfully God used his life to speak to me. During those years, I learned about the pilgrimage in Italy called The Saint Francis Way, connecting the cities where Francis ministered. I remember a little spark of childlike curiosity, like a holy premonition, wondering if someday I would find myself there.

A few months ago, a ministry I’ve come to love called Unhurried Living, led by spiritual directors Gem and Alan Fadling, announced they would be taking a group on a pilgrimage of The Saint Francis Way! My heart leapt, and I wondered if this was something God had for me.

I printed out the information and talked with my husband. With the crazy state of the world and the wars in Ukraine and Israel, we decided it wasn’t the best idea, and I threw it away.

But it wouldn’t leave me alone. A week later, honestly acknowledging my desire, I still wanted to go. Instead of pushing that desire down, labeling it as silly, crazy, or wrong, I decided to honor it.

Something inside—I think it was the Spirit—reminded me that I am the steward of my life, the only one who knows what is burning within. What if those passions are holy seeds that God wants us to fight for? Part of being a good and faithful servant is paying attention to the sacred sparks God ignites within us that no one else feels or sees.

Printing out the information, praying, and talking about it again, it was a “go!”  

I signed up and was on my way for reasons I didn’t fully understand, but I felt God inviting me. There were many challenges to overcome that I had no clue how I would solve. It wasn’t the greatest timing. After the big push of the book manuscript, adding the stress of going on an international trip with people I barely knew didn’t make sense.

On the other hand, the timing was perfect. After keeping my nose to the grindstone for all those months of writing, when I needed rest and rejuvenation, this dream trip could be a gift from God to water my thirsty soul.

And my pilgrimage began!

A Thought-Provoking Question

During my trip, I got an intriguing text. It was from my sister-in-law, who had spent several years as a travel agent, organizing and attending numerous trips to Israel led by one of the most renowned Bible teachers of our time.

Hearing me refer to this trip as a pilgrimage, she asked, “So what makes this a pilgrimage vs just another trip/tour? What does pilgrimage mean to you?”

With her vast experience in Christian travel, there couldn’t have been a more perfect person to ask that question.

And it got me thinking: what is the difference?

·      Both are attended by Christians. Most of whom aren’t just going to snap pictures, get the t-shirt, and check it off their bucket list, but because of their hunger to grow closer to God.

·      Both give the traveler a pause from everyday life, allowing them to open themselves more fully to God.

·      Both could gather participants together each day for group prayer, spiritual practices like communion, or sharing. Although not all tours do, on a pilgrimage, sharing your spiritual experience with others on the journey is essential.

·      With pilgrimage, even if a person travels with a group, they are always also going alone, urged on the trip by an inner invitation of the Spirit because of what God wants to do individually in them. Along with seeing the sites and sharing time together, space MUST be built into the schedule for each person to spend alone, meandering with God, to receive what He has for them.  

·       Pilgrimages travel at a slower pace. If you’ve ever talked to someone who’s taken a tour of the Holy Land, there will be no lack of stories about all the sites, getting up at dawn to load the buses, and moving until dark. Slow is never a part of the equation. Sometimes, if you listen closely, there will also be an ache in their voice, that even with all they experienced, they still feel empty. Pilgrimage allows you to travel in a different way.  Not pushed, but slowly, meaningfully, with time and space to process with God. What each person receives on the trip will be different from the others, making a significant impact on how transformational the trip is. Traveling as a pilgrimage helps you do less so you can receive more.

·      On pilgrimage, you go not because a brochure came in the mail or there is a place on your bucket list that you have an opportunity to visit, although both of those things could be true. The main reason a person goes is because they sense God inviting them, for his purposes, on the journey.

·      The physical place you travel is always secondary. Although there is spiritual significance to place, truthfully, you could go on a pilgrimage anywhere! I know of a priest in Minnesota who leads a five-day pilgrimage in his home state every summer for his congregation.

So, what sets a trip apart as a pilgrimage?

Lots of people travel across the world to see sacred sites. If all you’re doing is zooming off to every place under the sun, one place looks pretty much like another. You can only see so many cities, mountains, monuments, concerts, or light shows before it doesn’t mean anything at all.

But when you connect to the deepest longings of your spirit and soul, embark on a trip with a sense of holy invitation from God, leave your normal life, and make space to receive what He has for you, that makes all the difference.  The experience transforms from just another trip to pilgrimage.  

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Resources Worth Noticing…

The Movie: I’ll Push You: A Journey of 500 Miles, Two Best Friends, and One Wheelchair  Learn more about pilgrimage and the beautiful essence of life. You’re going to love this remarkable story of two friends, born two days apart in the same hospital, their lifetime friendship, and pilgrimage across the Camino de Santiago; one riding in his specially engineered wheelchair while the other pushed him. You can’t help but be changed by this gripping story of love and community.

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Worth Remembering:

“Given how frequently we travel, we barely notice the existential threshold crossed upon leaving home. The peregrini (one who goes on pilgrimage) reminds us that we go on pilgrimage not to consume experience but to be consumed… A tectonic convergence of our desire for God and God’s desire for us … that will travel to the ends of the earth to find what it craves.”   Fred Bahnson, On the Road with Thomas Merton