A pilgrimage is a spiritual journey undertaken by a pilgrim to a holy place for a religious obligation, the first of which was made by the Apostles to Galilee to meet the risen Christ. Galilee is a fertile, mountainous region in Northern Israel.

Modern Christian pilgrimage is either to the holy sites in Jerusalem or Rome, while Muslims go to Mecca and Medina. A Christian pilgrimage brings alive many of the significant events in the Bible, including a visit to Jerusalem, the Capital of Israel, and to Jordan, on the edge of Syria, Israel, and Palestine. It was at the River Jordan, that Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist to demonstrate the significance of baptism in atonement for the congenital sin of Adam and Eve.

Pilgrimage is different from tourism, the latter being largely for relaxation and sight-seeing, although it is possible to accommodate both objectives in a single trip, combining the secular with the spiritual.  Although pilgrimage is not stipulated as a religious obligation for the Christian (unlike the Muslim who is obligated to go to Mecca at least once in a lifetime), it is, nevertheless, a desirable experience, and a massive source of religious education for those who can afford it. It is also a rewarding apostolate for those who can afford to sponsor the less privileged faithful to have a taste of it at least once in their lifetime. They will forever cherish the memorable experience.

Galilee is of particular significance to Christ. It was in Capernaum, a Galilean city, and not in his hometown of Nazareth, that Jesus began his earthly Ministry. It was in Galilee that he called his first set of Apostles, specifically Peter and his brother, Andrew, as they were casting their nets on the Sea of Galilee, and they left all and followed him.

It was on the bank of River Jordan, a tributary of the Sea of Galilee, that Jesus got baptized by John the Baptist. Jesus also calmed the waves and took his miraculous steps on the Sea of Galilee. The famous Sermon on the Mount was also delivered on a hill, North of the Sea of Galilee. Little wonder that many miracles were performed in Galilee, unlike in Nazareth, and Galilee remains an important Christian pilgrimage site even today.

On the third day of the Crucifixion, the Angel told Mary Magdalene and the other Mary:  “He is not here. For he has risen just as he said…Go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen. And behold, he will precede you to Galilee. There you shall see him. Lo, I have told you beforehand” (Matthew 28:6-7). Jesus met his disciples and announced the same message to them (Matthew 28:9-10). Thus, the journey undertaken by the disciples to Galilee was a sort of pilgrimage to a familiar territory to meet the risen Christ. It was an old place, but a new person. This was a new Christ entirely, not the partly human Christ they had always known.

This was Christ of the Resurrection, absolutely divine and spiritual, the real Second Person of the Holy Trinity. He now moved with the wind like the Holy Spirit, unrestricted by walls and other physical objects, appearing mysteriously to his disciples and all others. Forty days later, he took to the sky in grand style, while they all looked on in utter amazement, as he vanished from their sight. 

The pilgrimage to Galilee holds a new significance for us today. Every Easter Monday, we all troop to ‘Galilee’ to meet the Risen Lord. Our ‘Galilee’ is wherever we designate it to be within or outside the Parish. It is a Holy Picnic, a Spiritual Pilgrimage, where we renew our relationship with Christ, and savor of the salvation that his Resurrection has fetched us.

Every Easter is a new beginning for us, a moment of new resolution to meet the new Jesus, and resurrect with him afresh from the tomb of our sins that have been buried with the Lenten Season. It is an annual spiritual pilgrimage, as each encounter with the risen Christ is expected to make us increasingly better human beings, with our focus on eternal salvation.

Apart from Jerusalem and Rome, a new pilgrimage site emerged on 13 October, 1917, at Fatima, a Central Portuguese town where, on six consecutive occasions, between 13 May and 13 October, the apparition of Mary appeared to three young peasant children, Lucia dos Santos (aged nine), and her cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto (aged eight and six, respectively). On the final day of the appearances, 13 October, 1917, over 700,000 spectators across Portugal witnessed a spectacular solar miracle where, for close to ten minutes, the sun emitted a variety of colourful rays, while the three children sighted the apparition for the very last time. 

After a thorough investigation, the Fatima events were given official recognition and credibility in 1930, thirteen years later, and Blessed Virgin Mary acquired a new designation as Our Lady of the Holy Rosary of Fatima, with the Feast Day fixed for 13 May every year.  Consequently, the hitherto little known city of Fatima turned into a famous Christian pilgrimage venue, and the Fatima Marian Grotto became perhaps the most visited Marian shrine throughout the world.

The greatest pilgrimage of all is that which each and every one of us has undertaken from Heaven into the World, and into which new babies arrive on a daily basis. According to the celebrated dramatist, William Shakespeare, “All the world’s a stage,/And all the men and women merely players;/They have their exits and their entrances…” (Shakespeare: As You Like It).  We are all Pilgrims here on earth and, as with every pilgrimage, we are bound to return home to give a detailed account of the use to which we have put our time, at the end of the pilgrimage. Our little pilgrimages here on earth are pilgrimages within the larger pilgrimage which encompasses us all, and challenges our virtues and integrity.

As true followers of Christ, we are called upon to be discriminatory in our choice of the sites to visit while on earth, to shun all evil practices, so as to qualify to return safely to Paradise from which we have come, and not end up in Hell fire.

Meanwhile, for the Jubilee Year of Hope, which began on 24th December, 2024 till January 2026; nine places had been designated as Pilgrimage Centres in the Archdiocese of Ibadan, for the benefit of all intending Pilgrims who may not afford the cost of going to Jerusalem or other international Pilgrimage Centres. Let us as faithful Catholics, make efforts to visit those designated Centres in the Archdiocese as announced by the Archbishop.