What can draw 240 Catholics over the lanes and paths of Cambridgeshire and Norfolk from Ely to Walsingham?
They ranged in age from 12 to 90, with many young adults and many recent converts and reverts, people deepening their Faith, or discovering it, in the company of the Traditional Latin Mass. They also discovered the traditions of Latin chants and English hymnody, and some hard truths about wet socks and blisters.
A pilgrimage is a way of honouring Christ or the saints. The more trouble we go to about it, to honour them, the greater the gift we are giving them. They don’t need our gifts, but it is good for us to give them: it creates, within us, a better ordering of priorities. It is good, also, for others to see the trouble we are going to, and for wider communities to take part in these efforts. We can’t increase the glory God enjoys in heaven, but as George Herbert expressed it, “In our hearts, though not in heaven, we can raise Thee.”
