The mission of shrines

Shrines are not intended to be a sightseeing stop! They are places of pilgrimage. Though most need to travel considerable distances to reach the Shrines, pilgrimage is not a holiday but rather an action of spiritual renewal.

Ordinarily pilgrims endured privations in joining with others en-route to a common goal and united with pilgrims of the past in prayer and in gratitude for a hallowed place. The purpose of the pilgrimage is to guide the pilgrim "to the essential Jesus Christ, the Saviour, the end of every journey, and the source of all holiness."

Vatican Council II spoke of Mary's "pilgrimage of faith". She precedes and encourages us in our own pilgrimage of Faith. Marian Shrines are one expression of Mary's presence among us, the Church.

John Paul II in Mother of the Redeemer referred to a "geography" of faith and devotion to Mary which includes those special places of pilgrimage where the 'People of God' find the one who first believed and a strengthening of their own faith.

At the first World Congress on Shrines and Pilgrimages in 1992, John Paul II expressed the desire that "persons whom life has treated harshly, the poor, the people who are distant from the Church" may find a welcome at Shrines.

Hospitality extended to all pilgrims at Marian shrines is an expression of the Virgin Mary's welcoming of God's Word. Her example reminds all people that we come together in the great pilgrimage of life on this earth to everlasting life in our permanent home with God.

Extracts from The Mission of Shrines by Br John Samaha, SM
The Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute: www.udayton.edu/mary/meditations/samaha.html