Making Connections..........

 Sometimes, doing pilgrimage professionally gets one's nose too close to the grindstone. Paying close attention to routes, history, accessibility and a host of other things it is easy to lose focus. Busy! Busy! I was in danger of losing it last month. 

 Then Wasingham. A welcome. Cups of tea and pieces of cake. "Pilgrimage is all about connecting." said Mgr. John Armitage  to delegates visiting as  part of last month's Interreg Green Pilgrimage Conference. He had it in a nutshell! Good to connect with you Fr. John!

 Green Pilgrimage has to be as much about connecting with landscapes and the natural world; as with making contact with to the past  on well trodden paths to pilgrim places. 

 For a pilgrim, making such connections can never be ends in themselves, they are ways to connect with deeper reality. Describe deeper reality as you will  - the spiritual, one's higher power, God, or gods.  Deeper reality  is the mystery that draws pilgrims on.

Not either or; but both and!  The pilgrim finds thin places, both in  nature and in the built environment. But here's the thing, it is not just place, it is time as well. Time to make connections, time to feel one's way into and through the thin places. Slow Pilgrimage is good; walked, or, at least, partly walked. The pilgrim must saunter i.e. saint terrre (or holyland) not rushing but, rather, travelling in a reflective way.

 Further, time of day and time of year can be equally important. Places can be thinner at different times - sunrise, sunset, spring, autumn, midwinter.  Here's an example that illustrates the importance of time of year.

 Finally (and this is where this blog post began)  no connecting is possible unless we take time in this busy 24/7 world to connect with ourselves.

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