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PROGRAMME OF SERMONS and MEDITATIONS
WALKING WITH GOD
Tradition – Christianity - Mission
WHY THIS THEME ?
This pilgrimage means a lot to us. We have received a lot from it, we have also given a lot to it, and indeed these two things go together … let us give thanks to God. We are very attached to this pilgrimage. First of all because of its objective value, of its effect on our souls, of its witness against a society that from many points of view is decadent. Secondly, we are attached to our pilgrimage because quite simply God has allowed us to be part of it and part of its organisation.
This year, 2007, we take part in the 25th pilgrimage to Chartres.
It’s a useful and wholesome custom for priests, religious and families to celebrate jubilees, in this case the 25th anniversary of a commitment. It gives us an occasion to renew our promises, to come back to the true and original meaning of our commitment. Often this original commitment may have lost its edge, got watered down or perhaps got lost in the routine or in the numerous difficulties to be resolved. It may have gone lukewarm, got lost in our over attachment to human means. It is an opportunity for us to take courage, to once again raise our sights and to take strength to face the coming years with renewed zeal. It is the same for our pilgrimage. It is a question of finding again the true and deeper sense of our walk of prayer and penance, its personal and social dimension, ‘the religious journey of a whole people’.
The approach that we propose is the following : we are going to look at different pilgrims, all marching towards God, in the Old Testament, the Gospel, the history of the Church, the history of our civilisation and of each of our countries; they all prefigure in one way or another our own pilgrimage. We will march and unite ourselves to patriarchs who marched before us, the prodigal son, Our Lady, Our Lord, the apostles, and also of heros, of warriors and of missionaries, of Charles Péguy, the French writer who revived the walking pilgrimage to Chartres in the 19th century. Minor pilgrims of Christendom that we are, we will learn from everything that we rediscover. These lessons learnt can be classed under three categories, one for each day of the pilgrimage. These three categories are none other than the three theologal virtues which are also the pillars of all we undertake in organising the pilgrimage, in the following order :
• Faith and Tradition
• Hope and Christianity
• Charity and Mission
It is for us to bring this alive for the good of our pilgrims and the greater glory of God.
We propose the following plan for each pilgrimage meditation.
• Set the scene, description of place, time and action.
• Analogy with our condition today
• Lessons to be drawn.
Saturday 26th May 2007
Sunday 27th May 2007
Monday 28th May 2007
Tradition – Christianity - Mission
WHY THIS THEME ?
This pilgrimage means a lot to us. We have received a lot from it, we have also given a lot to it, and indeed these two things go together … let us give thanks to God. We are very attached to this pilgrimage. First of all because of its objective value, of its effect on our souls, of its witness against a society that from many points of view is decadent. Secondly, we are attached to our pilgrimage because quite simply God has allowed us to be part of it and part of its organisation.This year, 2007, we take part in the 25th pilgrimage to Chartres.
It’s a useful and wholesome custom for priests, religious and families to celebrate jubilees, in this case the 25th anniversary of a commitment. It gives us an occasion to renew our promises, to come back to the true and original meaning of our commitment. Often this original commitment may have lost its edge, got watered down or perhaps got lost in the routine or in the numerous difficulties to be resolved. It may have gone lukewarm, got lost in our over attachment to human means. It is an opportunity for us to take courage, to once again raise our sights and to take strength to face the coming years with renewed zeal. It is the same for our pilgrimage. It is a question of finding again the true and deeper sense of our walk of prayer and penance, its personal and social dimension, ‘the religious journey of a whole people’.
The approach that we propose is the following : we are going to look at different pilgrims, all marching towards God, in the Old Testament, the Gospel, the history of the Church, the history of our civilisation and of each of our countries; they all prefigure in one way or another our own pilgrimage. We will march and unite ourselves to patriarchs who marched before us, the prodigal son, Our Lady, Our Lord, the apostles, and also of heros, of warriors and of missionaries, of Charles Péguy, the French writer who revived the walking pilgrimage to Chartres in the 19th century. Minor pilgrims of Christendom that we are, we will learn from everything that we rediscover. These lessons learnt can be classed under three categories, one for each day of the pilgrimage. These three categories are none other than the three theologal virtues which are also the pillars of all we undertake in organising the pilgrimage, in the following order :
• Faith and Tradition
• Hope and Christianity
• Charity and Mission
It is for us to bring this alive for the good of our pilgrims and the greater glory of God.
We propose the following plan for each pilgrimage meditation.
• Set the scene, description of place, time and action.
• Analogy with our condition today
• Lessons to be drawn.
Saturday 26th May 2007Sunday 27th May 2007Monday 28th May 2007