We are pilgrims on a journey

St James’s Day falls annually on 25^th July. This year we’re keeping our celebration on the nearest Sunday, 23^rd July.  St James was among the closest companions of Jesus. And because of his importance, over the centuries, St James has inspired countless pilgrims to journey to his shrine in Northern Spain at Santiago de Compostela. And though traditionally pilgrims made their way on foot over hundreds of miles from France and across the Pyrenees, in today’s world it’s much more common to arrive by car or plane.

The school holiday season will soon be upon us, and many will be dreaming of travelling to enjoy the sun. Because the world is smaller now, those dream holidays are ever further afield. The journey is incidental in all of this, since unless there are long delays at the airport, the journey time is so short. Gone are the days when there was real travail in travel. We can reap the benefits of travel without the costs. And yet pilgrimage reminds us that there is a different way to travel, at a different pace. And while we normally start out on a journey in order to reach our destination, for the pilgrim, the journey, the travelling, is itself half the fun.

It’s been said that to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive. And the destination can prove a disappointment after the struggle to reach it. The hotel is rarely quite as attractive as the brochure paints it, nor the food as appetising. But journeying in hope itself gives food for the journey. In the Lord’s Prayer we pray for daily bread – the bread for today’s journey and the renewal of hope is such daily bread.

But if pilgrimage reminds us of the significance of the journey, so too it has something to teach us about what takes place when we arrive. For pilgrims don’t merely go to a place. They go to a place to meet a person (or at the very least, the would-be bones of the saint at the shrine). As we prepare for holidays, to go away to another place, let’s go remembering that we go to meet with people of that place. And when we meet them? Well on the way to Compostela, there is a signboard, ‘Don’t forget: the tourist says "Give me ..."; the pilgrim says "thank-you"’.

Have a good St James’s Day and if you are going away, safe travelling.

 

Fr Andrew