Prayers for Pilgrims
Pilgrimage is traditionally a journey to a holy place — a place where saints have walked, a place where God has met people and blessed them. People through the ages have journeyed with God on pilgrimage — to perform a penance, to ask for healing, to pray for places where there is war or national disaster, to pray for friends. Pilgrimage is an opportunity to travel lightly, to walk free of daily routines, to meet people, to make friends, to enjoy and celebrate God’s creation. An opportunity, too, in the travelling, the conversations and the silences to reflect on the journey of our lives and on our journey homewards to God.
O Lord Jesus Christ, yourself the Way, the Truth and the Life,
grant to us who walk in your earthly footsteps a sense of awe,
wonder and holiness.
May our hearts burn within us as we come to know you more clearly,
love you more dearly and follow you more nearly. Amen.
Lord, you who called your servant Abraham out of the town of Ur
and who watched over him during all his wanderings;
you who guided the Jewish people through the desert
in their journey to the Promised Land;
you who guided the Holy Family on their passage to Egypt;
we ask you now to watch over your servants who,
for your greater honour and glory, make our way to the chosen pilgrimage place.
Be for us a companion on our journey, the strengthening during fatigue,
the fortress in danger, the shadow in our heat,
the light in our darkness, the consolation during dejection
and the power of our intention so that, under your guidance, safe and unhurt,
we may reach the end of our pilgrimage and,
strengthened with gratitude and power,
secure and filled with joy, may return home
to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
God of the guiding star, the bush that blazes
SHOW US YOUR WAY
God of the stormy seas, the bread that nourishes
TEACH US YOUR TRUTH
God of the still, small voice, the wind that blows where it chooses
FILL US WITH LIFE
God of the elements, of our inward and outward journeys
SET OUR FEETS ON YOUR ROAD TODAY.
MAY GOD BLESS US WITH A SAFE JOURNEY
MAY THE ANGELS AND SAINTS TRAVEL WITH US
MAY WE LIVE THIS DAY IN JUSTICE AND JOY. AMEN.
Pilgrimage is … a sign of contradiction, and of resistance to our prevailing value system, that of the market. Pilgrimage, after all, has no function other than itself; its means is as important as its end, its process as its product. Its utility value is small, and its benefits cannot be quantified or costed. Its value is intrinsic. It is something that is good to do because it is good to do. It states clearly that the extravagant gesture (because it is extravagant in terms of time and commitment) is an irrepressible part of what it means to be human and to walk on the earth. And whether the context for pilgrimage is solitude or community, we will be drawn deeper into the mystery of God and the care of creation.
(Kathy Galloway)
Bless to us, O God,
the earth beneath our feet.
Bless to us, O God,
the path whereon we go.
Bless to us, O God,
the people whom we meet. Amen.
Pilgrim God, our shoes are filled with stones,
our feet are blistered and bleeding,
our faces are stained with tears.
As we stumble and fall,
may we know your presence in the bleeding and in the tears
and in the healing and the laughter of our pilgrimage.
(Kate McIhagga)
Pilgrimage is traditionally a journey to a holy place — a place where saints have walked, a place where God has met people and blessed them. People through the ages have journeyed with God on pilgrimage — to perform a penance, to ask for healing, to pray for places where there is war or national disaster, to pray for friends. Pilgrimage is an opportunity to travel lightly, to walk free of daily routines, to meet people, to make friends, to enjoy and celebrate God’s creation. An opportunity, too, in the travelling, the conversations and the silences to reflect on the journey of our lives and on our journey homewards to God.
O Lord Jesus Christ, yourself the Way, the Truth and the Life,
grant to us who walk in your earthly footsteps a sense of awe,
wonder and holiness.
May our hearts burn within us as we come to know you more clearly,
love you more dearly and follow you more nearly. Amen.
Lord, you who called your servant Abraham out of the town of Ur
and who watched over him during all his wanderings;
you who guided the Jewish people through the desert
in their journey to the Promised Land;
you who guided the Holy Family on their passage to Egypt;
we ask you now to watch over your servants who,
for your greater honour and glory, make our way to the chosen pilgrimage place.
Be for us a companion on our journey, the strengthening during fatigue,
the fortress in danger, the shadow in our heat,
the light in our darkness, the consolation during dejection
and the power of our intention so that, under your guidance, safe and unhurt,
we may reach the end of our pilgrimage and,
strengthened with gratitude and power,
secure and filled with joy, may return home
to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
God of the guiding star, the bush that blazes
SHOW US YOUR WAY
God of the stormy seas, the bread that nourishes
TEACH US YOUR TRUTH
God of the still, small voice, the wind that blows where it chooses
FILL US WITH LIFE
God of the elements, of our inward and outward journeys
SET OUR FEETS ON YOUR ROAD TODAY.
MAY GOD BLESS US WITH A SAFE JOURNEY
MAY THE ANGELS AND SAINTS TRAVEL WITH US
MAY WE LIVE THIS DAY IN JUSTICE AND JOY. AMEN.
Pilgrimage is … a sign of contradiction, and of resistance to our prevailing value system, that of the market. Pilgrimage, after all, has no function other than itself; its means is as important as its end, its process as its product. Its utility value is small, and its benefits cannot be quantified or costed. Its value is intrinsic. It is something that is good to do because it is good to do. It states clearly that the extravagant gesture (because it is extravagant in terms of time and commitment) is an irrepressible part of what it means to be human and to walk on the earth. And whether the context for pilgrimage is solitude or community, we will be drawn deeper into the mystery of God and the care of creation.
(Kathy Galloway)
Bless to us, O God,
the earth beneath our feet.
Bless to us, O God,
the path whereon we go.
Bless to us, O God,
the people whom we meet. Amen.
Pilgrim God, our shoes are filled with stones,
our feet are blistered and bleeding,
our faces are stained with tears.
As we stumble and fall,
may we know your presence in the bleeding and in the tears
and in the healing and the laughter of our pilgrimage.
(Kate McIhagga)