Tourist vs Pilgrim
Before arriving in Jerusalem yesterday, I had spent many hours in the holiest site in Christianity, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. One of the benefits of attending my seminary was a three-month Holy Land pilgrimage that included an entire month in Jerusalem. I’m currently at the same place we stayed back then, and it’s only 10 minutes from the Sepulchre (tomb). During my time in seminary, Jesus gifted me with exponentially more time at that church than most people experience in a lifetime.
Because of that, it didn’t surprise me that the site was so … unprayerful (I’m allowed to make up words on my sabbatical). Yes, the holiest site in all the world is also the hardest to pray at and lacks a tangible sense of piety.
Tour guides do their best to speak over one another, sometimes yelling to be heard as their group venerates the holy sites (side note: the amount of self-control it took me to avoid correcting a tragically misinformed tour guide should count for my canonization. Someone please take note.).
There is a never-ending flood of people of every language and nationality, some in prayer postures, others experiencing everything through their camera screens, and all shoulder to shoulder in a chaotic “line.”
Add to that mix the less than hospitable orthodox priests who stand watch over Calvary and the tomb (spend a second too long in the tomb, and you’re likely to hear shouted at you, “No praying, no praying. Leave.”)
To be able to pray at the site of the crucifixion and Resurrection - the holiest place in all of space and time - requires a strong act of the will, an early morning wake-up, and a bit of good luck.
Many factors have contributed to this, but at their root is the subconscious decision by many to be a tourist rather than a pilgrim.
In seminary, my mentor and spiritual director taught us to approach our time in the Holy Land as pilgrims, not tourists. He said it was easy to default into tourist mode: jump off the bus, listen to the tour guide, take pictures, and return to the bus to continue to the following location. He wanted more for us. He wanted us to go as pilgrims so that our experience would be transformational instead of just informational.
A tourist consumes, captures, and tries to ensure everything gets done. The approach of a pilgrim is radically different. In fact, for a pilgrim, while the location of the journey isn’t unimportant, it is far from the motivating factor. A pilgrim enters into an outward journey to stimulate an interior one. They are not looking to capture or consume but instead to surrender themselves more fully to the God who ransomed their life with His Life.
Tourists are frustrated when things don’t go as planned, schedules unexpectedly change, or they miss something they want to do.
Pilgrims discover that the uncertainty of a journey is a gift inviting them to depend solely on the Unchanging One.
Tourists snap pictures and buy souvenirs to bring their experiences home.
Pilgrims embrace a spirit of renunciation to pursue a deepened intimacy with Jesus, the pearl of great price.
Tourists seek to consume what they can as they layer experience upon experience.
Pilgrims seek to be consumed by the One who is only satisfied when we surrender to Him our entire self.
There were pilgrims there during my visit today, but many people were tourists. I know that, sadly, tour guides who weren’t Christian had little interest in helping their groups to pray. And given this is a once-in-a-lifetime trip for most people, it is understandable that they want to get the most out of it. Rarely does a tourist’s journey come from a place of ill will.
But what I experienced at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the fruit of the distorted way that most of us - even we Catholics - approach our lives.
Too often, we live in this world as tourists rather than as pilgrims.
The difference between being a tourist or a pilgrim isn’t limited to when we’re in Israel, Rome, or walking the Camino. The ultimate determination if we are living the life of a Christian involves the daily, conscious decision between approaching life as a tourist or a pilgrim.