Rohr on pilgrimage

Matthew 18:1-4 says: “At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ He called a little child and had him stand among them.

And he said: ‘I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like
little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.'”

I’ve been saying this for awhile – that we need to go on a pilgrimage to find out who we really are in Christ and who God really is. Richard Rohr says that for such a pilgrimage to be successful, we must journey as children:

A pilgrim must be a child who can approach everything with an attitude of wonder, awe and faith. Pray for wonder, awe, desire. Ask God to take away your sophistication and cynicism.

Ask God to take away the restless, anxious heart of the tourist, which always needs to find the new, the more, the curious. Recognize yourself as a pilgrim, as one who has already been found by God.

Though pilgrimages are good for the spirit, if you can’t find Jesus in your hometown, you probably aren’t going to find him in Jerusalem.

…We go on pilgrimage so we can go back home and know that we never need to go on pilgrimage again. Pilgrimage has achieved its purpose when we can see God in our everyday and ordinary lives.