Pilgrimage is a holy voyage in which an individual undertakes to visit a given place motivated by health, a religious purpose such as one’s faith, a sense of accomplishment or to experience community on a profound level. People from various regions visit places deemed to have this unique spiritual significance. This can be shown through the sacred pilgrimage of Lourdes which is a journey through religious shrines. A pilgrimage to Lourdes has the potential to substantially reinforce, deepen, and transform the faith and spirituality of the pilgrims. In order to properly understand the meaning of Lourdes a brief historical recounting is necessary.
The pilgrimage of Lourdes has a long history and people from a Catholic faith usually go on a pilgrimage
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During these sanctified elements of the pilgrimage, particular hymns will be chanted: “Immaculate Mary’ our Hearts on fire, That Title so wondrous fills all our desire and Ave, ave, Ave Maria”. There are three main rituals contained in the Lourdes pilgrimage of which includes the use of symbols and symbolic actions. As mentioned previously, individuals go to Lourdes for various reasons one of them being to bathe in the water. Pilgrims firstly proceed along the bath and kiss the sculpture of Mary mother of Jesus. They then bathe in the Grotto’s water. The baths symbolize baptism and the pilgrims fully immerse themselves to strengthen their faith, as well as cleansing for purification. Another element of the Lourdes pilgrimage is the Chapel known as the “basilica the Immaculate conception”, and the evening candlelit procession, including hymns and prayers. This is a point where people can have their reflective and silent thoughts as well as prayer. Another time for reflection and prayer is when visiting the Stations of the Cross that are placed on a steep hill, extending a mile …show more content…
The potentiality of the Lourdes pilgrimage is the enhancement of a person’s faith or spirituality; in some cases, both. Factors such as liminality and Communitas, theorized by Turner, play an important role in the spiritual and religious experience of pilgrims. For example , as some anthropologists have stated, ‘pilgrims’ transport to a world of intensified detachment where they can disregard their everyday distresses; they experience a sense of ‘Communitas’ with other pilgrims, practice various ‘rituals by participating in set activities, then return to the world. These notions further uncover the spiritual elements of pilgrimage and give a deeper understanding of why going on a pilgrimage is beneficial to a person, spiritually and religiously. This personal and spiritual experience exposes the stimulating nature of the liminal state, and emphasizes how liminality and Communitas encompass a changed way of seeing. Communitas within pilgrimage is referred to as the altered outlook on life that continues for the rest of the pilgrim’s existence. It also represents healing, religious experience, the gift of wisdom and long term relations with others. Liminality and Communitas heightens the fundamental dimensions of pilgrimage and contributes to the spiritual and religious experience of
Throughout all texts discussed, there is a pervasive and unmistakable sense of journey in its unmeasurable and intangible form. The journeys undertaken, are not physically transformative ones but are journeys which usher in an emotional and spiritual alteration. They are all life changing anomaly’s that alter the course and outlook each individual has on their life. Indeed, through the exploitation of knowledge in both a positive and negative context, the canvassed texts accommodate the notion that journeys bear the greatest magnitude when they change your life in some fashion.
One of the most interesting aspects of Diaz’s narrative is towards the end when Cortés broaches the subject of Christianity with Montezuma. Conversion and missionary work was one of the most important and lasting goals of the conquistadors and other contemporary explorers, they were charged with this duty by the rulers who sent t...
Travel was an important part of Quaker life. As a fledgling religious movement focused on the importance of introspective faith and a personal relationship with God, many Friends took it upon themselves to spread the word world-wide. Furthermore, as a group looked down upon and disliked by the rest of English society, Quakers were tempered to have a predisposition towards independence and adventure that serve...
The study of religion is often a rigorous process because the central tenets of the subject: image, ritual, and myth are often copious in their complexity. For example, consider the multiple meanings that are inherent in the image of a crucifix. Some Christians might view it as an image of suffering, whilst others would reject that notion and instead perceive it to be one of love. These differences may seem inconsequential at first, but they can overtime shape the beliefs of an individual and by extension a community. To understand this dynamic better one only has to analyze the Christo Aparecido (Christ Appeared), an authentic Mexican crucifix with a fascinating history from the colonial era to the present. This history is made known by the text, Biography of a Mexican Crucifix: Lived Religion and Local Faith from the Conquest to the Present by Jennifer Hughes, from which I contend that over the life of the Christo Aparecido there continues to be an understanding among devotees that this crucifix is sacred because it displays animus while being a vestige for the sacred to occupy. To support my position I will attempt to relate the moments where the Christo Aparecido is said to show signs of life, in particular his stay in Mexico City during the colonial era and his role in more modern times with rival groups clashing over its efficacy in the village of Totolapan.
In 1785, a Christ Child was said to have appeared. A shepherd boy from the village of Tayankani played with the child, but the child disappeared. The child was believed to have disappeared into a rock that was left with his imprint. This is the story behind the pilgrimage to the rock, but those of our community don’t pay much attention to it. Their purpose in the event is to ‘honor’ their supernatural beings. They pay homage to Rit’i (the snow), Taytakuna (Fathers), and the great Apus (Lord Mountains).
“The personal is political in this pope’s pilgrimage.” New Zealand Herald 12 May 2001: NEWS; World
When Jesus walked the earth his twelve disciples put aside all of their worldly possessions and worldly pursuits to fully and faithfully follow him. After the fall of Rome, Europe slipped into what has been referred to as the “dark ages.” However, even in these dark ages men and women put aside their secular desires and devoted themselves to a life of celibacy and simplicity. This similar desire between many people drew them together and this pursuit became know as monasticism. No one had a bigger influence on this way of life and on these people who chose this calling than Saint Benedict of Nursia. His teachings and life would have an impact on monasticism all throughout Europe helping to form its spirituality and culture.
The Basilica of St. Denis contributed to the rise of the Catholic Church, for it provided a physical representation of the “Holy Jerusalem”, for many people to see. By viewing this representation of heaven, many people reestablished their faith into the church and longed for salvation, so that they can be accepted into the “spiritual heaven” after their death. This desperate attempt to gain salvation caused individuals to devote themselves to the church, which brought the Catholic Church leverage, power, and wealth.
The pains of pilgrimage are deep and various. They are found not simply in the physical walking, but also in the walking away from physical and mental comfort. In his book, Journey Through the Twelve Forests, David L. Haberman describes in graphic detail the parting and participatory pains as he journeys on the Ban-Yatra pilgrimage. The Ban-Yatra (literally ‘forest journey’) is a 200-mile circuit through the forests associated with Lord Krishna’s activities around Braj, a town in central India. Krishna is a deity favored by many Hindu religions. He is an ever-playful prankster and lover whose actions, as told in the stories, display a blatant disregard for social conventions. A tenet of the Braj religion is that all life is to be modeled after Krishna’s lila, or play; participation in this play is essential for the Braj Vaishnavaite. Haberman writes that, "with the irresistible call of his flute, [Krishna] lures his players into the forest to experience his essential nature, which is declared to be ananda – ‘joy’ or ‘bliss’" (Hab 5). Ban-Yatra pilgrims take to circumambulating Braj to participate in Krishna’s play, and also to experience Krishna’s ananda. Yet, by the end of Haberman’s story of a quest for joy, the reader has acquired a deep understanding of a pilgrim’s pain – an ironic and unexpected conclusion. Haberman also recognized this contrast and found it confusing, asking throughout his book such questions as, "What does all this suffering have to do with the journey through sweet forest, expressly in pu...
In this paper, I will be using Victor Turner’s concept of liminality to analyze the Christian rite of passage of baptism. Turner built upon Arnold van Gennep’s three-stage model of rites of passage, focusing on liminality rather than reaggregation and introducing the concept of communitas as the unstructured community during the liminal stage in which all members are equal. By using the anthropological lens of Turner to analyze baptism, specifically Jesus’ water baptism in the book of Mark, I hope to apply his concepts of liminality and communitas to the text to gain a deeper understanding of the model for modern Christian baptism rituals and interpretations, including Spirit baptism.
Religion was the back-bone for the pilgrimage. Saying so, this allows one to ponder the argument that the United States is in existence today due to religion. I agree with Patricia Bonomi’s argument that the colonies transferred the importance from that of the group to that of the individual. This enabled each and every colonist. They were not only working for the whole but themselves now. Importance was placed upon the individual and self-reliance, by means of spirituality, was becoming more the common place. A type of individual freedom took place which ...
Antti Lehelma. "A Short Guide For Pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela." 1 June 1999. Online Posting.
The Late Middle Ages saw great theological discrepancies through the progression of Christian mysticism. The exploration into spiritual practices and the unification of the soul during this period led to great philosophical works. The Cloud of Unknowing and The Imitation of Christ are two noteworthy texts that discuss one’s aspiration to attain union with God. The Cloud of Unknowing is an anonymously authored spiritual exercise that accentuates movement toward the contemplative life by acknowledging what is unknown by man. In contrast, The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis is a spiritual guide which emphasizes that the way to be fully Christian is to live in the imitation of Jesus Christ. While many of the thoughts concerning human reason and withdrawal from the corporal world are similar in the texts, the two are inherently different as the account in The Imitation of Christ is more compelling due to its focus on a humanistic objective while acquiring union and salvation with God.
The details of this life have been retold since the days when men lived in caves, so much so that some of them are more backwards than the enemy of the Church himself; but God in his wisdom, recognized that this was a part of the human nature, and so, he has given us a treasure in which small details are just that, and they do not greatly affect the larger image, as long as the mile markers are kept in mind. So, it is one of these episodes of the growth of the Kingdom of God amongst men, which we are to focus on, a time when controversy surrounded the very occurrences which led to one of the strongest systems of beliefs that exist today. Yes, there are many episodes of such nature in the Catholic religion, but one of great significance was the initiation of the papacy, when people from many cultures began to come together, whethe...
In Geoffrey Chaucer’s writing, “The Canterbury Tales”, he writes of a pilgrimage and describes every character that is involved, some more in depth than others. Keep in mind that this writing is dated back in the 1300’s, so there is going to be some distinction between those he described on the pilgrimage compared to how one would describe people of today. If Chaucer did write about people today, three people he would most likely choose would be a teacher or professor, a professional athlete, and a song artist.