It is a fact. As humans we are a tribal species. When separated from the tribe we know we form a community with those with whom we find ourselves. And so it has been as our band of thirty-six pilgrims have traveled through Ireland together. Just ten days ago and yet what seems like a lifetime of experiences, we left the familiar and came together with excitement, trepidation, anticipation and, for some, downright anxiety. There were those who were old friends, who had known one another through years of common experience. There were couples who had traveled with one another and know the other’s little quirks and eccentricities. There were those who were a stranger to many and at least one or two who were only really acquainted with one other person.
And yet now we find ourselves in that lovely state that happens when people have a common, rich experience. We have formed a temporary tribe that has been our pilgrimage experience. There are those who have come to make new friends and those who have renewed relationships that had meaning in another time in their lives. We have shared the exquisite beauty of the Irish landscape together and looked for the face of God. Most often we have seen it in the face looking back at ours. Memories have been made, photos have been taken, gifts have been purchased, laughter has has been shared. And prayers have been spoken, prayer after prayer after prayer.
Today we will visit our final abbey church, one dedicated to St Brigid. St Brigid whose gifts of hospitality and hearth, a love of home and animals, whose sign is fire, will be our final stop as pilgrims on this leg of life’s journey. We began as individuals, immigrants from our respective tribes and will be welcomed as a tribe by the spirit of St.Brigid.
Over these days we have visited many monastic sites. These communities built to welcome and house the faithful were places where tribes were formed, named and sent to tell the good news of God and to offer the invitation of the Way of Jesus. Over hundreds of years they have been places where strangers have arrived at doors not knowing what the next day or the next moment might bring. They have met people they were drawn to and been put off by those who did not fit their view of the world. Some stayed and made the place home and others ran away as fast as humanly possible. Those who stayed became a part of the tribe that etched their lives into the stone and peat, in the very landscape itself.
And tomorrow this pilgrim band who have shared so much will depart and head back to the tribes that await them. Stories will be told and photos will pass from hand to hand. We will try to breathe life into our telling. But we will at some point realize that what we have known cannot be heard with a full knowing by those who were not a part of this traveling community, which is alright. Because when we want the stories to be fully heard we will return to the tribe that gave birth to them. They will most certainly understand.
Blessed be.
