pilgrimages
Jesus as a true and devote Jew, participated in a pilgrimage along with His Mother and Father Joseph to the temple of Jerusalem on the occasion of great and grand Jewish feast. The last pilgrimage was the Pasqual journey in which he suffered, died and raised again.
Pilgrimage is a religious
activity, which exists from time memorial, you can almost affirm, that it
exists from the origins of humanity and religious man. Israel reminded people
of Abraham and the patriarchs as pilgrim. Their long march through the desert
consider as pilgrimage considered it as the prototype of the Promised Land. The
pilgrimage was always clearly a sacred action. The pilgrimages were very
special occasions for an encounter with the Lord and a manifestation of their
identity as a people and nation.
The pilgrimages are one of the symbols of humanity’s existential walk, which manifests their desire to be united with the Creator. There are many psalms, which describe the pilgrimages and the pilgrim.
Occasionally, going on a pilgrimage was given as penance for grave sin. It was definitely a dire hardship because the sinner was bound in conscience to walk barefoot and in tatters, never spending more than one night in a particular place, and he had to beg for his food along the way. This certainly was not your luxurious modern-day flight to Rome or Jerusalem with a stay in air-conditioned hotels and scrumptious local food! It was a tremendous sacrifice and, to our modern sensibilities, seems almost too cruel a punishment.
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