Pilgrimage

If you live in Sydney then you already know what WYD08 is; it’s all around you. On every train station, in every bus, on almost every street corner you see them: young, boisterous, backpack-carrying pilgrims.

The flags and faces of many nations are among them, as many of them make the trip of a lifetime. They will long remember the time they came to Sydney to gather with hundreds of thousands of other Catholics, to celebrate together, and to see the man who is the head of the Catholic church.

(Where else would you ever get thousands of teenagers giving the 'rock star' treatment to an 81-year-old man? It’s an extraordinary phenomenon - no offence intended with that last comment.)

This is my second taste of what it must be like to live in Mecca: the first time was 8 years ago when the world came to Sydney for the Olympics.

As the group of young people in the photo above wandered past a bloke selling ‘The Big Issue’, he hollered, “Where are you guys from?” As it turned out, they were a bunch of locals: “Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, New Zealand” came the cheerful reply.

Has your life been marked by a pilgrimage of some kind – perhaps one you’re yet to make? For Muslims, it’s Mecca. For the ancient Jews, it was Jerusalem. For Mormons it seems to be anywhere overseas you can ride a bike.

For most Australians, it seems to be trip to ANZ Stadium or Subiaco or the MCG (or, for a generation of older Australians, a trip to ‘Mother England’). For some it’s the Apple iStore (you know who you are!).

Have you noticed that it seems to be something basic to our human make-up that we are programmed for pilgrimage? Most people seem to have a deep longing within them to go to a certain location – and they know a journey (or a long wait in a queue) will be involved.

What characterises most of the pilgrims in Sydney this week is colour, and I have to say it, happiness; they look like they’re having the time of their lives.

What characterises you in your pilgrimage?