Regarding each pilgrim, ask yourself:
● Where is he / she coming from?
● What are the blessings and burdens of the community from which he / she comes?
The question asked of WYD pilgrims is often:“ Where are they [ the pilgrims ] going?” The stories so often told about a pilgrimage are the stories of the pilgrim ' s journey to someplace. But any good storyteller( and any good pilgrimage guide) will remind others,“ That is not the full story.” Every story starts from some place, and that place matters.
In literature and film, Homer’ s Odyssey, Geoffrey Chaucer’ s Canterbury Tales, Frank Baum’ s The Wizard of Oz, Lewis Carrol’ s Alice in Wonderland, J. R. R. Tolkien’ s Lord of the Rings, and C. S. Lewis’ Narnia series are all examples of a journey. But notice that the stories are not over until the heroes return home( or arrive at a new home) to their community. In other words, what can tend to be overlooked is the hero’ s community. In the same way, a pilgrim does not exist in isolation but in relationships rooted in the community from which he or she comes.
Think also about the Olympics. The stories of the athletes and their relationships and
7 experiences back home form a big part of the media coverage of the Olympic games. There are stories of high school coaches who inspired athletes to do their best, of sweethearts back home who are watching every day, or parents who sacrificed countless things to make an Olympic moment possible for their child. In every city or village who sent an Olympian to compete, the community is often glued to the television, radio, or news reports, waiting to hear the name of their hometown hero.
It is impossible to understand the full story of the pilgrim without knowing his or her context. When pilgrims gather for World Youth Day, they often carry the flags of their countries— the communities from which they came. Pilgrims come from a community, and journey as a community, to encounter the Lord, so that they can return transformed to the community from which they came and transform that community. At the same time, there exists a certain fluidity in communities today, which is not always welcoming or nurturing. Even in such cases, when pilgrims return and start sharing their stories, fluid communities can become more solidified. Our modern culture often focuses only on the individual; however, in the Judeo-Christian tradition there is also the sense of each individual being a part of a greater community, of a people.