To be a Pilgrim
Early on the morning of the 13th November 32 pilgrims from our parish and some of the neighbouring parishes in West Cumbria began the journey to Rome. We arrived at midday and began a busy schedule of visits, which included five of Rome’s major Basilicas, the Catacombs of St Callixtus, the Venerable English College, a General Audience with the Holy Father and a visit to the Benedictine Monastery of Sacro Speco at Subiaco.
We arrived not sure what to expect but returned deeply affected. The pilgrimage pivoted around the Wednesday Audience with Pope Francis. It was deeply moving to have this direct experience of the Holy Father’s ministry as Universal Pastor: a truly Catholic experience, shared with thousands of pilgrims from many nations and cultures. Our visit on the first day to the Basilica of St Clement began our journey into the history and continuity of our faith. Beneath the current beautiful 12th Century Basilica, we entered the earlier 4th Century Basilica, with its medieval frescos. In this place, dedicated to the first century Pope St. Clement, standing in a place where Christians from the earliest days of the faith in Rome met and worshipped, a deep awareness of the communion of saints was palpable. One of our daily masses took place during our visit to the Catacombs of St Callixtus. Sharing in the eucharist where some half a million Christians were buried from the third century AD, and including many martyrs and 16 popes, the sense of our catholic Eucharistic unity across time was powerful.
On a personal note, at my confirmation I took the names ‘Paul’ and ‘Benedict’. It was a great joy to visit the Holy Cave at Subiaco where St Benedict spent three years in prayer at the beginning of his monastic life and to conclude our pilgrimage at the Basilica of St Paul outside the walls and kneel in veneration at the tomb of the great Apostle of the Gentiles. Praise be to God!.
