voices of faith q & a

March 31, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

McClatchy Newspapers

Q. Which religious pilgrimage is best?

Pastor Emeritus Raymond Davis Jr., Greater Corinthian Church of the Christ, Kansas City, Mo.:

A. Pilgrimages are holy ritual practices for many religions. Traditionally, these pilgrimages are journeys to special sacred places giving devotion to icons or deceased persons of sainthood.

The religion of Islam is most notable of all pilgrimages as people of that faith journey to the sacred place of Mecca. It’s common knowledge among Muslims that at least once in their life, all that are able to do so must make this pilgrimage to Mecca.

In Christian history, Jerusalem has been the object of pilgrimage practices. During the early Middle Ages, Christians made pilgrimages to Jerusalem to pay homage to Christ the Savior. The New Testament mentions an Ethiopian man servant returning from Jerusalem where he went to worship. (Acts 8:26-28)

Christianity goes beyond the traditional understanding of pilgrimage while embracing the traditional pilgrimage. All Christians are pilgrims but embrace a more comprehensive perspective on pilgrimage. All of the Christian’s life on Earth is a pilgrimage in the world through which they pass momentarily. Wherever his/her feet tread in this world is a pilgrimage. (Hebrews 11:13)

But whatever the religion, pilgrimages may be a vital practice. The life of a Christian is the life of a pilgrim in the Earth.

Lama Chuck Stanford, Rime Buddhist Center & Monastery, Kansas City:

A. Nearly all religions place importance on the journey of a pilgrimage. Typically, a pilgrimage is a journey to a shrine or other special place that has special significance to a person’s faith and there is almost always some aspect of sacrifice.

Obstacles and hardships are to be expected. These difficulties are considered a part of the pilgrimage and for some, a form of purification. Others believe that the more difficult the pilgrimage, the more merit one achieves.

A pilgrimage is not only an external journey but an inward journey as well. It should be a journey of awakening and of transformation. While traveling to lands with strange customs and exotic foods may be exciting, an inward journey connecting with the sacred within us may be even more profound and transformative.

The great teacher of mythology, Joseph Campbell, said, “The ultimate aim of the quest must be neither release nor ecstasy for oneself, but the wisdom and the power to serve others.”

There is a story in many religious traditions, all with a similar theme, about a pious but poor man who is unaware that buried beneath the earthen floor of his home lies a treasure of wealth. After a pilgrimage and many trials, the man finally discovers the treasure. The treasure metaphorically represents the sacred that he had been in search of all along.