She said, "I'm thinking of going on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. What do you think?" Replied the Sage, "You can do that here if you wish."
Outer pilgrimage is a sign of inner pilgrimage. There is a vast landscape outside; there is a vast landscape inside. We can go a long way without going anywhere.
*Brian K. Wilcox. "Meetings with an Anonymous Sage."
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A well-known Desert Father, Sarapion the Sindonite (Egypt, 300s), went on pilgrimage to Rome. He was told of a celebrated recluse. This woman lived in a small room, never going out. Skeptical about her way of life, being himself a wanderer, Sarapion visited her. He asked, "Why are you sitting here?" She answered, "I'm not sitting; I'm on a journey."
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Our situation, say the Greek Fathers, is like that of the Israelite people in the desert of Sinai: we live in tents, not houses, for spiritually we are always on the move. We are on a journey through the inward space of the heart, a journey not measured by the hours of our watch or the days of the calendar, for it is a journey out of time into eternity.
*Bishop Kallistos Ware. The Orthodox Way.
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Silence and Solitude is not inactivity. One may appear still, motionless. Pilgrimaging, nevertheless, continues in the intimacy of interior prayer.
The most critical movement in the spiritual life is within Silence and Aloneness. There are subtle, interior movements as real as the exterior ones. These movements are fundamental to our well-being - more so than the exterior ones.
This Silence and Aloneness is an interior experience. One can experience this among others. Interior prayer can happen amid our everyday activities and interactions. This is most likely, however, if we have time set aside daily for prayerful Quiet. We can, also, pause amid our activity, return to the breath, and relax awareness back into the heart, inviting communion with the Friend.
The outer aspects of the pilgrimage are rightly lived, rejoiced in, and shared when joined with the inward motions of Spirit. When drawn into the Depths, we bring the pristine treasure back into the world as an offering to others.
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Have you ever sensed an inner summons to leave a familiar something - home, city, job, relationship, religion ... - to go where you knew not? What was that like for you?
I invite you to reflect on the following words. What do they say to you?
True silence is the speech of lovers. ... This silence ... will break forth in a charity that overflows in the service of the neighbor without counting the cost. It will witness to Christ anywhere, always. Availability will become delightsome and easy, for in each person the soul will see the face of her Love. Hospitality will be deep and real, for a silent heart is a loving heart, and a loving heart is a hospice to the world.
*Catherine Doherty. Poustinia: Encountering God in Silence, Solitude and Prayer.
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*©Brian K. Wilcox, 2023.
*Use of photography is allowed accompanied by credit given to Brian K. Wilcox and title and place of photograph.
*Brian's book, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major online booksellers or the publisher AuthorHouse.
