A Pilgrimage in Daily Life
If you follow my social media, you know I recently returned from a Pilgrimage in England learning about the Celtic saints (c. 600AD). I walked among the ruins of the monasteries and churches they had built and considered how these ancients held a faith that was incredibly personal and permeated every aspect of their lives.
Though I knew nothing of Celtic Christianity before I went, I felt I could relate to them because I had just completed another type of journey that had opened my soul to a similar kind of faith.
From Sept. ‘22-May ‘23, I had taken part in the Spiritual Exercises suggested by St Ignatius of Loyola. Ignatius lived 900 years after the Celts but embraced many of the same principles, particularly how the incarnation enables us to connect personally with God.
I wrote more about the Exercises a previous blog post but here I wanted to explain what I focused on in each phase of the journey because some have been curious about the process.
The first 4-5 weeks I simply explored God’s love and care for me. I was saturated with scriptures and meditations on God’s loving gaze and began to open myself more fully to experience His love for me personally.
Then, for about 4 weeks, I focused on the theme of my sin versus God’s eagerness to forgive me. This was more difficult than it sounds because we tend to think that our sin somehow separates us from God. This is not true for the redeemed. In fact, scripture says that nothing can separate us from the love of God (Rom. 8:31-39). When we sin, we may choose to turn away from God in shame, but as soon as we turn back to Him, we will find Him eager to forgive us. This concept was life-changing for me.
Then I began the longest leg of the journey which is on the incarnation of Christ and His desire for us to enter into His friendship and His ministry. It was here that I listened for God’s call and noticed disordered attachments that might keep me from walking in its fullness. My friendship with Jesus came to life and blossomed during this time. I imagined myself accompanying Him on His many adventures to spread the gospel, heal and bring deliverance. It truly began to feel like a pilgrimage in the gospels through the life of Christ as familiar stories became real and personal.
By now, it was mid-February and Lent was upon us. It was time to walk with my beloved Friend, Jesus, toward His crucifixion. These were hard weeks but I had grown so in love with Him that the thought of abandoning Him in His hour of need was unthinkable. So I stayed close as He headed toward Jerusalem, then kept watch in the Garden, finally standing with the women and John at the foot of the cross. Only to sit in confusion on a Saturday, wondering how everything went so wrong.
Then, it happened… Resurrection!
I spent a few weeks marveling as I met with Jesus again, now in His resurrected body with Mary and the other disciples before watching Him ascend to glory.
I spent the last 2 weeks meditating on God’s Spirit at work in the world. I learned that there is no place where God is not to be found if I only have eyes to see.
As I look back over my 32-week journey, I realize how much the Triune God met me in the daily scripture meditations, prayers and journaling. My image of God was enlarged and purified. My new understanding of my own belovedness transformed my identity. I grew spiritually by leaps and bounds.
Best of all, when it was over I didn’t have to head back home trying to figure out how to integrate it all into my everyday living because I had experienced it all in the course of my daily life for 8 full months.
If this sort of journey through the life of Christ in every day life sounds like something you would like to embark on, reach out to me. I will be taking a small group through this experience late Sept. 2023-April 2024.
Social Image credits: Clemens van Lay
