February 23, 2007

My Journey to God

They Were Pilgrims

They were pilgrims
intent on their journey,
seeking the Spirit in holy places
of edifices erected by mortals.

They were pilgrims
from every town and temperament,
carried by the current of faith
to creative expressions of their love for God.

They were pilgrims
visiting the centuries-old churches,
viewing the ancient art treasures
residing in monastic settings.

They were pilgrims
to experience firsthand
the extension of spiritual expression
through the creative efforts of humans.

They were pilgrims
seeking the antiquity of tradition
to become a part of something
beautiful and full of unrestrained love.

They were pilgrims
seeking the chambers of divine knowledge,
contemplating the visible and invisible
and the incomprehensible.

They were pilgrims
journeying from darkness into light,
deeply changed by the creative spirit
manifested in the art treasures of worship.

By Thomas J. Rillo

(Thomas J. Rillo is a member of St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Bloomington and a Benedictine Oblate of Saint Meinrad Archabbey. He wrote this poem during a Benedictine pilgrimage to the holy sites of Austria and Germany in October 2006.) †

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