As you might know, or at least those I’ve told might know, I am leading a pilgrimage to Ireland about now. Indeed, as I sit down to right this entry, I am the hotel room in Dublin that will be home for four nights.
The pilgrimage proper has not yet commenced - that’s tomorrow, Tuesday 22 September - so some might be asking why this particular column has been committed to paper … or what passes for paper in this continually developing technological age.
The reality is that this pilgrimage might begin tomorrow, but it started a long time ago, almost eighteen months ago in fact, when I first approached the tour company, Harvest Journeys, to put something together for what was initially envisaged as a pilgrimage primarily targeted at the parishioners of St Francis of Assisi Parish, Dungog Gresford.
Much water has passed under the bridge of the preparatory stage of this pilgrimage, with changes, adaptations, and edits, and the journey that is about to embarked upon by twenty-four intrepids pilgrims doesn’t quite look like either what was originally envisaged or what was initially planned.
The reality is that the pilgrimage almost immediately took on a life of its own, with growth, successes, disappointments, and everything in between across time from the moment it was first conceived until it has take on a life of its own,
It is also true that the more immediate preparatory stage for this writer is also coming to a close as the pilgrimage begins to shift from a concept, admittedly well-developed and planned, to a reality that has gathered pilgrims from a variety of places to Dublin ready to embrace whatever comes next.
The final phase of the preparatory stage has been the journey from the small rural setting of parish, across almost thirty-six hours of travel featuring three separate flights, layovers, and delays and disappointment. All of those experiences have become part of the pilgrimage journey for this writer, just as the experiences of other group members have become part of the journey of pilgrimage.
For that reason, the preparation for this particular pilgrimage journey, or more accurately the more immediate aspects of the preparation, are just as much a part of what will come from the pilgrimage, how it will be remembered, and what it will reveal to the pilgrims and others during and after the pilgrimage.
With both the promise and hope for prayers,
Andrew