Read the Catechism in a Year
Day 216 - Pilgrimages and the Stations of the Cross
What is the purpose of a pilgrimage?
Someone who goes on a pilgrimage “prays with his feet” and experiences with all his senses that his entire life is one long journey to God.
In ancient Israel people made pilgrimages to the Temple in Jerusalem. Christians adopted this custom. And so this developed, especially in the Middle Ages, into a regular pilgrimage movement to the holy places (above all to Jerusalem and to the tombs of the apostles in Rome and Santiago de Compostela). Often people went on pilgrimage so as to do penance, and sometimes their actions were affected by the false notion that one had to justify oneself before God by tormenting and punishing oneself. Today pilgrimages are experiencing a unique revival. People are looking for the peace and the strength that come from those grace-filled localities. They are tired of going it alone; they want to get out of the rut of the daily routine, get rid of some ballast, and start moving toward God.
What are the Stations of the Cross?
Following Jesus on his Way of the Cross by praying and meditating on the fourteen Stations is a very ancient devotion in the Church, which is practiced especially in Lent and Holy week. (YOUCAT questions 276-277)
Dig Deeper: Corresponding CCC section (1677-1679) and other references here.
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