By Father Joseph Chan Wing-chiu
The Serra Club of Hong Kong organised a pilgrimage for the Holy Year of 2025, travelling to pilgrimage sites in several countries. The pilgrimage took place in Lourdes in France, where Our Lady appeared to Bernadette; Avila in Spain, where St. Teresa came from; and Zaragoza, where the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillars is located. Then we went to Fátima, Portugal, where Our Lady appeared to three shepherd children, the Shrine of The Most Holy Eucharistic Miracle of Santarem in Lisbon, and to St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome to cross the Holy Door.
The journey involved a lot of travelling by coach from one pilgrimage site to another. Though not as tiring as the journey of Jacob, the many hours in the bus were difficult,and we spent them together in prayer, song and rest, as if we were on a retreat.
In addition to our daily prayers for vocations, we were reminded many times on the journey that we are pilgrims, and pilgrims with hope. We hoped that everyone involved—men and women, young and old—would always remember that life is a pilgrimage, and that its purpose is to walk towards Jesus Christ, who gives us hope.
During our trip, we also took part in the Ways of the Cross and recited the Rosary at various pilgrimage sites, and in the reverence of these Church traditions, it is often easy to focus on completing the liturgical transcripts or a specific number of scriptures, and to lose sight of meditating and entering into the spiritual responses that are being described. For this reason, it is essential to pause consciously and focus on the inner process of awareness and response.
The Son of God, Jesus Christ, by taking on our human form, also demonstrated this attitude of life that integrates mind, body, and spirit. Therefore, in our journey, we have moments of joy and thanksgiving, as well as moments of hardship and frustration, especially when we feel physically tired or contract a little illness. We can learn to see all these experiences as blessings in our walk with Jesus Christ, to keep our eyes only on the hope toward which we are moving and to offer ourselves to the hardships and struggles we feel and experience.
This dedication unites us in Christ’s self-sacrifice, the work of redemption for all mankind. This is also the spiritual orientation experienced and revealed to the St. Paul the Apostle: “Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the Church” [Colossians 1:24-29]
