Chris and I are hopeful that we'll be able to do some traveling while we're in Paris. There is a very good possibility that we'll be able to spend some time in Oxford. Chris will be reading a paper in Belgium and there may also be a conference in Poland that we will attend. We also have a friend from our time in Nottingham that just got a job in Granada, Spain. We would love to visit him and his family. Our big dream is to go to Rome for Easter.
While we dream of traveling around Europe, we are also excited about traveling around within France, and specifically about making some of those travels into pilgrimages.
Wikipedia defines a pilgrimage as a journey or search of great moral significance. It also mentions that there are surviving descriptions of Christian pilgrimages to the Holy Land which date back to the 4th century. Another website mentions that St. John Chrysostom found great benefit in visiting the sights where the saints lived. He, himself would have loved to have gone on a pilgrimage to Rome to see the tomb of the apostle Paul but was unable to because of his church responsibilities.
Personally, I am interested in pilgrimages because I find that it encourages my faith to learn more about how God has worked in other people's lives, in very different times and places. In John 3:5-8 Jesus says,
"I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again." The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
Mr. Cullen, my high school Bible teacher taught us that God's kingdom is being built here on earth, even now, and I find it so exciting to be able to look back over time and to unveil some (most of it I'm sure remains a mystery) of how the Holy Spirit is carrying out that work in real ordinary people's lives!
In my mind, I imagine, the kingdom of heaven to be like a city somewhat submerged in an ocean. Right now, when we visit places like Rome, parts of Greece or the Holy Land it is like we are seeing the very tips of the tall castle-like towers of the new kingdom. They're submerged, so it's easy for others to overlook them, but we know that when God begins a good work, he continues it. We know that when Christ came, he redeemed our bodies so, physical things matter. King Jesus, still in his human body, will open up the heavens and ride before us on his white horse with his robe dipped in blood and his eyes blazing like fire!!! In that kingdom, Mary and the apostles, and all of the saints and those who have been persecuted because of righteousness, will be lifted up, "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
Here is a quote that I liked regarding the saints:
"A saint is a living Word, a sacred page by which God speaks to the world; a Gospel that flows from within, filled with new realism, because it is written on a soul not with ink, but with the Spirit of Christ."
There is only one Word of God. In the book of John, we're told that the Word was made flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. That word has two forms. That Word is revealed to us not only through Sacred Scriptures but also through the Sacred Tradition as the Holy Spirit works through time in the church. And so while one cannot ever add to Scripture, in a very real way we can see how God through the work of the Holy Spirit also works through people - normal every day people - even today, and so his strength can be seen through their weakness!
Because I must succumb to the way this website has been organized (as I am not a computer expert) all travels will be posted on the main page. This page acts only as an introduction to those travels. All that to say, I will use this website to keep you posted on our travels, but more importantly any pilgrimages we make, as we lift the veil and take a peek at the true reality that lies below the surface!
