The last week of September in 2017, I went on my solo journey to Iona, Scotland. I chose to attend a week-long retreat at The Abbey because of the theme that drew me: "The Pilgrimage of Life." I joined with thirty-nine others from around the world to look closely at how life is a journey--and can be compared to the stages of a pilgrim taking a physical journey to a holy site.
The Abbey at Iona, Scotland September 2017
Before that trip, I found books that helped me prepare for what we would explore. One of those helpful guides was Christine Valters Paintner's, The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within. I'd forgotten about that book until last week when I was cleaning out my bookcase; there are payoffs to cleaning up 🙂 It was interesting to see the sentences I underlined and the scribbled margin comments about my upcoming journey in 2017. Before I arrived at Iona, my husband and I had started out doing our first "sweep" of several cities in Europe-- a trip that marked my retirement and our 40th year together--39 since we married. Reading my comments, that's the most glaring of changes since that week in Iona. I had no idea, when I was working through Painter's book, the internal journey that awaited me-- the winding path through divorce.
I've shared over the past weeks about my plan to take a pilgrimage this August to a foreign place-- to walk the Camino Coastal path from Porto, Portugal to Santiago, Spain. Paintner points out the value of stepping into a foreign culture and illuminating all the expectations we have of how life should work--- seeing our perspective from the culture we've lived in. I expect that I'll have many of my views, ways of seeing life, challenged when I'm on that Camino path by the people and the places I encounter.
I know, however, that I don't have to go to Portugal and Spain to have the experience of pilgrimage. Life gives us that wherever we are. Paintner speaks as much to the inner journey as to a physical journey to another land:
"I also believe that pilgrimage is very much an inner journey and experience. Many can travel long distances and take a lot of pictures. They see things through the lens of a tourist and not through the eyes of a pilgrim." p.3, The Soul of a Pilgrim
While there are others like me, who have the desire to travel to places far away, many people do not want to do that, or are unable to. Pilgrimage is about transformation and that can happen just as effectively in your home community; it's a matter of being open and seeing things in a new way. Paintner says:
"Some may not travel long distances on the outside. The inside, however, is another matter. These pilgrims travel long, arduous, and soul-altering distances. When they do, they are transformed in rewarding and profound ways." p. 3, The Soul of a Pilgrim
Sometimes through the circumstances of our lives, we're forced on a journey that we didn't choose; that's how I felt about divorce. That's what happens when you face an illness, have a loved one to get a life-altering diagnosis, deal with a child's chronic illness, struggle with addiction. Paintner's point of view is as an abbess, a leader in the Catholic tradition, with a focus on contemplative practice and creative expression. As a Christian, I find her writing about the inner journey to align with my view of how God can work in our lives. I like what she says:
"Pilgrimage calls us to be attentive to the divine at work in our lives through deep listening, patience, opening ourselves to the gifts that arise in the midst of discomfort and going out to our inner wild edges to explore new frontiers." p. 4
Tall Cross at The Abbey at Iona, Scotland 2017
Whether we're on a pilgrimage we chose, or on one that life has given us, the difference in what we experience is our attention and our intention. If we're looking for the "divine at work in our lives" then the eyes of our hearts will be focused, watching for how God can show up--even in the hardest situations. If our intention, our desire, is to grow through the situation, to find a way to move forward then we can have a transformational experience that brings us closer to who we're meant to be, to our authentic selves.
When I was on the island of Iona, I was drawn to all the types of gates that were used in pastures, private gardens, church yards, entrances to shops etc.. They became symbols of opportunity to me. Would I take the effort to push the gate open, to venture forth to what was beyond? The gate in this pastureland next to the sound kept the livestock from roaming, and took some effort to open. But once you accepted that challenge, the walk on the windswept beach was like a private paradise.
South Beach. Iona, Scotland 2017
Pilgrimage is an invitation to push through to the unknown in order to return home to the familiar--transformed, forever changed. May we all have the courage to take those journeys that bring us closer to who we're intended to be--whether the pilgrimage is to a faraway place or to the depths of what surrounds us.
Blessings to you all,
Connie
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