Photo: Jürgen Vorndran
Who does not like to walk into May 1st, perhaps with the sounds of the Franconian song: “Well, the air is fresh and pure, who sits for a long time has to rust …”
Many pilgrims are drawn to Kreuzberg every summer, walking all the way from Würzburg to the monastery. Such closeness to nature also shapes in faith. Anyone who has ever seen the Wallleut return to Würzburg knows how formative this spirituality is for life:
Take the strain – be on a pilgrimage – be a pilgrim – let yourself be carried by the community – persevere – ask God for help – take the next step, even if it hurts – experience resurrection and finally experience hospitality: especially on the evening of the first long day, covering almost 50 kilometers on foot: in the sun, but also in the rain.
Those who take this experience to heart will continue on the path, even with steps that hurt. Whoever lives this spirituality shows steadfastness and perseverance, even if the goal is still a long way off.
When the pilgrim sees Kreuzberg getting closer, the hardest part comes: the “knee break” right in front of the goal. Some start to despair.
Not only the Kreuzberg pilgrim knows this: despair is the magic word these days. Perhaps because we are all afraid that we will run out of air in the corona pandemic. Have the exit restrictions not been taking too long? It is annoying that we cannot go to May with friends tomorrow, that nobody will go to the Kreuzberg pilgrimage this year …
It is all the more important that we react to this challenge in the same way as if we were on a pilgrimage, as if we were on a long, strenuous hike, exactly at the point where our courage threatens to sink.
It is important now that we make the inner voice heard: “Don’t give up now!”
Even if the road ahead is more like a marathon than a pilgrimage, the goal at stake is also incomparable: All of our efforts in these days of the corona pandemic are aimed at curbing the spread of a dangerous virus .
That is why I am firmly convinced that it is worthwhile to keep going, even if that means: I will stay at home – even on May 1st!
I wish all of us a lot of perseverance and some resurrection experiences on the way ahead!
The author Jürgen Vorndran is a cathedral priest, member of the Würzburg cathedral chapter and dean of the Würzburg city deanery.
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Wurzburg
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Andreas Köster
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anxiety
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hazards
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Faith
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God
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Jürgen Vorndran
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Monasteries
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Pilgrimages
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