The Tourist vs. the Pilgrim

This past week the new group of seminarians had the opportunity to visit a great number of sites, and most of these are religious sites; I have little doubt that these opportunities will continue to a less-frequent degree. But the vast majority of these trips are not simply for the sake of tourism. Instead, they help us to draw closer to the Saints and their times by letting us visit their remains and walk in their footsteps.

And this brings us to the spirit and purpose of pilgrimage. The purpose of any pilgrimage is to allow the person, place, or thing being sought to draw us cloer to Jesus Christ, who in turn constantly draws us closer to the Father.

In this way, we can draw on these sights and people for inspiration for our Faith. In some posts in the near future, I hope to explain how these visits have inspired me.