The walk to the cross and resurrection is more than just a journey: it’s a pilgrimage.
The liturgies of Holy Week are deeply connected with the spiritual practice of pilgrimage. Some of them were first crafted by Cyril of Jerusalem, a fourth-century Bishop who wanted to help pilgrims to Jerusalem experience, through ritual and worship, the journey that brought Jesus to the cross, and then out of the empty tomb. When those pilgrims returned home, they often took those liturgies with them, enabling the practices of Lent and Holy Week to spread throughout the Body of Christ.
We are in the midst of this season of pilgrimage. Whether taking on a Lenten discipline or making space in your calendar to participate in services during Holy Week, we embark in body and spirit on a journey that recalls those of some of the earliest Christian pilgrims.
Our Christian practices become something larger when we think of them not simply as actions, but as elements of pilgrimage. The work of peacemaking is pilgrimage: through word and action, we name what destroys light, and we proclaim the hope that points towards resurrection.
Forgiveness, too, is peacemaking. Bishop Cyril had many things he could have been upset or resentful about. Despite faithful leadership, he was banished three times by higher-ranking bishops who didn’t like what he was doing. Yet Cyril responded with a pilgrim’s heart, preaching and writing about the vital work of forgiveness and grace.
I cannot help but connect Cyril’s care of pilgrims through Holy Week liturgies with his own pilgrimage of forgiveness.
Forgiveness is an action and a journey at the same time. Through it, we are channels for God’s healing world. Through the courageous work of forgiveness, we embark on a pilgrimage of reconciliation and hope.
Faithfully,
