While the battle of the bubble hits a dry spot, a symbol of searching and faith is happening on mass across Australia — Pilgramage. Next Sunday in Sydney some 500 thousand Catholic Pilgrims will descend upon Randwick Race Course (on the door step of the defunct Randwick Design School) to celebrate the visit of the Catholic faith‘s supreme representative on Earth, Pope Benedict xvi, to Australian shores. From World Youth Day‘s website:

World Youth Day (WYD) is the largest youth event in the world and will be held in Sydney from Tuesday 15 to Sunday 20 July 2008.

It is an enormous event, apparently more people will be visiting Sydney than 2000 Olympic games, like Father Alexander Salazar and friends (second from the left) Mipo Island from Chile.

Bands of pilgrims can be seen on the streets, with flags, lanyards, and smiles throughout Melbourne. Say hi, they love a chat.

From Wikipedia

Pilgrims are common in many religions, including the faiths in ancient Egypt, Persia in the Mithraic period, India, China, and Japan. The Greek and Roman custom of consulting the gods at local oracles, such as those at Dodona or Delphi, both in Greece, is widely known. In Greece, pilgrimages could either be personal, or state-sponsored.^[1]

In the early period of Hebrew history, pilgrims traveled to Shiloh, Dan, Bethel, and eventually Jerusalem, leading the way for the other Abrahamic religions to include the practice. The great Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca (now in Saudi Arabia), is obligatory for every able Muslim, and other Islamic devotional pilgrimages, particularly to the tombs of saints, are numerous. The early Christians made pilgrimages to the scenes of the Passion of Christ in Jerusalem. Even after Jerusalem had been occupied by the Saracens, the liberty of pilgrimage, on payment of a tax, was secured by treaty; the necessity of protecting pilgrims, however, gave rise to the medieval military orders, such as the Knights Templar.

While religious pilgrims usually travel toward a singular destination, a physical location is not a necessity. One group of pilgrims in early Celtic Christianity were the Peregrinari Pro Christ, (Pilgrims for Christ), or “white martyrs,” where pilgrims left with the intent to wander.^[2] This sort of pilgrimage was an ascetic religious practice, leaving home and the clan for an unknown destination, in complete trust of Divine Providence. These travels often resulted in the founding of new abbeys and spreading Christianity among the pagan population in Britain as well as on continental Europe.

Travel well Father Alexander and friends.

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