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Pilgrimage to the Holy Land: To Revive One’s Christian Faith

Pèlerinage en Terre Sainte: pour raviver sa foi chrétienne | Spiritours

In this article, Thea shares a perspective enriched by her decades of experience on the reality of pilgrimages to the Holy Land, as well as the importance and beauty of this experience.

How do pilgrimages revive faith?

During a synod on the new evangelization, the Patriarch of Jerusalem at the time (2008 to 2016), Archbishop Fouad Twal, said: “A pilgrimage to the Holy Places is an excellent way to revive one’s faith. It allows for a better understanding of the historical, cultural, and geographical context where the Mysteries in which we believe were born.”

For more than 35 years, I have accompanied and guided pilgrims in the Holy Land (Israel, Palestine, and Jordan), and I fully agree: visiting the Holy Places confirms and strengthens the faith of those who come to discover them!

At the Spiritours travel agency where I work, it is important for us, after solid preparation and an intense pilgrimage, to have a group debriefing on what people have experienced. And what strikes me is that many people say they discover, deepen, and even rediscover the desire to read the Bible.

They no longer hear what they read personally or listen to at celebrations in the same way, for both the Old and New Testaments. They now have images, emotions, and a lived experience within many of the texts. Also, the masses take on a completely different meaning, deeper, more experiential.

For most pilgrims, this trip becomes the beginning or a very strong deepening of a spiritual journey, and they become “bearers” of Good News that they have received and shared for a few days with a guide, a spiritual companion, and other pilgrims.

Pèlerinage en Terre Sainte: pour raviver sa foi chrétienne | Spiritours

Jerusalem: The Capital of Pilgrimages

Jerusalem, the Holy City, is probably the most important pilgrimage site in the world! In this city, there is the Holy Sepulchre, in which is located Calvary and the Tomb of Jesus; it is from this Tomb that, for Christians, Christ came out alive, resurrected.

There is also the Western or Wailing Wall; it remains of the ancient Temple and is the holiest place for Jews. There is the Temple Mount with the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third most important place for Muslims after Mecca and Medina.

There are now seven billion inhabitants on Earth; 2 billion are Christians, 2.1 billion are Muslims, and 13 million are Jews. It is therefore more than half of the world’s population that is attached, in one way or another, to Jerusalem. And, as a matter of course, we are always interested in knowing what is happening there…

Pèlerinage en Terre Sainte: pour raviver sa foi chrétienne | Spiritours

Is it safe to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land?

Unfortunately, most often, the media only report sensational news that is not always good… But for those who come there, these places reveal something else to them: they first feel a great peace and serenity in these places walked by Jesus and preserved because of this…

They also discover that they are not the only ones attracted to these places: people from everywhere come here, people of all colors, of all languages… And they are well received by the local population. But above all, they have an Encounter… in the very places where other disciples were surprised in the past. It’s a bit like the world stops…

Strengthened by the testimony of all these people, we must stop being afraid and go to the Holy Land to live an extraordinary experience that will forever mark our souls and our hearts, and sometimes even our bodies.

Yes, let’s go, let’s come to the Holy Land to travel through the Land of Jesus to meet the living Stones of today, those who are the descendants of the first Christians, those who have kept, protected, often at the risk of their lives and most often in great destitution, these extraordinary places so that we can, even today, frequent them and pray there.

These high places could many times have been destroyed or even become, as in other countries, simple museums of history and culture… But these local Christians, these families, have sacrificed themselves, and even today, so that the sacrifice of their faith continues to bear fruit, they need us on all levels: spiritual in lived faith, moral in support in the face of adversity, financial to support their children and keep them there for a long time. Yes, let’s go, let’s come to the Holy Land!

The agency with which I work, Spiritours, has always been committed to working with local Christian companies, and we make every possible effort to help and encourage our Christian sisters and brothers on the ground. By visiting them, we do them good… but also ourselves, by rediscovering and deepening our Roots of faith, by making our lives produce spiritual fruits.

May the Spirit of the Lord guide your steps towards the Peace of the Holy Land, and may we meet there to live an unparalleled experience!

By Théa van de Kraats, accredited guide in Israel, collaborator and group leader at Spiritours.

N.B.: Théa will accompany several trips to the Holy Land in 2023:

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