Pilgrimage a time for prayer and reflection

By Wendy Shaw

Parishioners gathered, appropriately, between palm trees outside Launceston’s Church of the Apostles for the third annual Palm Sunday Pilgrimage.

Hundreds of people had earlier witnessed the blessing of the palms outside the church, followed by a procession into the church and then Palm Sunday Mass on 13 April.

About 50 stayed on for a four km walk through the nearby scenic Cataract Gorge.

Pilgrimage leader Melissa White explained that the walk was about being ‘closer to the sacred in our lives’ rather than the physical journey.

“We have journeyed through this Lenten time to try to come closer to Jesus and to have a change of mind and heart, nurturing our relationships with our loved ones and with God,” she told pilgrims who gathered under the cross outside the church.

“We add our own pilgrimage time today, albeit a short experience. Pilgrimage is a journey filled with spiritual connectedness, as communal resonance. It provides a course of renewal – rediscovering a sense of the sacred in our lives.”

The walk would travel over straight, winding, even and rough surfaces, representing times when life goes smoothly and when there are challenges.

Melissa urged pilgrims to slow their minds and open themselves to God’s sacred presence in their hearts, in the beauty of their surroundings and in their encounters with each other.

Launceston Parish Priest Fr Leonard Caldera hoped that with the blessing of the palms, the Mass and the pilgrimage, parishioners would develop a greater understanding of the depths of Jesus’ sacrifice.

 “It’s a very important thing that they really have a spiritual experience,” he said.

“It is more than just a walk as a parish. The pilgrimage itself has elements of prayer and reflection.”

Fr Caldera explained that the theme of pilgrims of hope underpinned Holy Week and the Catholic Jubilee Year.

“This year we have really paid attention to the liturgy and the hymns because I want to share with the people the beauty of the Catholic liturgy and the transcendent nature of it, in a sense: that even through liturgy we can be on a journey,” he said. “Worship is a journey to God, as pilgrims.”

Parish Pastoral Council chair Maree Wright added that the Palm Sunday Pilgrimage helped to build a sense of community within the parish while also focusing parishioners’ thoughts on Holy Week.

“The highlight was walking through the beautiful Cataract Gorge, some pilgrims chatting, others enjoying the peaceful surrounds and the quiet time for reflection,” she said.

She thanked Melissa for setting the scene and leading the pilgrims, and parishioners for their support.