I had the blessing of going on pilgrimage to Rome as a child with my parish in North Dakota. Now, as chaplain of the University of Mary, I have the blessing of shepherding 150 students from all the Catholic high schools in North Dakota around that same city, which has not changed much since 2002 — or 1602!
One of the most powerful things I relate to them is that we are doing what Christians have been doing since A.D. 64: ascending the Vatican Hill to visit someone who knew Jesus and was his friend, whom the Church of the ages was built on, and from whom his successors draw authority to this day. Ancient Christians risked life and limb to be close to the relics of a great intercessor. While the empty tomb of Christ in Jerusalem bespeaks resurrection, the bones of St. Peter in Rome speak of incarnation: tangible, visible human sanctification.
Because of the Muslim conquest of the Christians who lived in the Holy Land, there arose the devotion of the Stations of the Cross. Unable to access the holy sites, the pilgrimage was brought to them. Pilgrimage is not necessary for salvation, and all Catholics can participate in their own ways this year of Jubilee. However, to be effective, it must be something that is sacrificial and moves the pilgrim beyond himself toward something enchanting, tangible and even risky.
Going beyond ourselves
The high schoolers on pilgrimage leave their phones (!) in the United States. What they experience on the trip is screen withdrawal, jet lag, no air conditioning, sweat and miles upon miles of walking. All of this leads to what they ultimately find: authentic friendship, God’s love passionately pursuing them, powerful confessions, daily Mass, and a Church fed by the blood of martyrs that is as relevant today as ever — if also just as misunderstood as ever.
The theme of this Jubilee is one of hope. The timeliness of this is both obvious and difficult to see. It is obvious that Christ is “expectant hope,” who comes to free us from this world. “In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!” (Jn 16:33). Nero and the wicked Roman Empire could not suppress Christianity — the blood of St. Peter and St. Paul bear witness to that freedom. On the other hand, hope is difficult to see today because it seems like our present condition is so dire. The Jubilee theme encourages pilgrimage so that we might leave behind the narrow vision of the immediate to penetrate more deeply into the eternal.
While vacation is an inward turn of self-indulgence, pilgrimage takes us out of ourselves to participate in something greater: eternal rest made possible to the one who has gone out arduously on an adventure with Christ, realizing our home and our citizenship is in heaven and experiencing that we are pilgrims on this earth.
