There are a many things for the visitor to Iona to do. They could visit the Iron Age fort, which is on the hill, or the beautiful beaches and the hermits cell, and the cloisters, which are being reconstructed with flowers and birds from nearby landscape.
The trip to Iona is quite a long one. First the pilgrim must travel to Oban in the high West Coast of Scotland. Then follows an hour-long ferry journey to the island of Mull. Then an hour-long car journey across the island to another half an hour ferry ride to Iona, and that’s only if the weathers good!
Iona is a community founded in 563AD by St. Columba. He was sent by the Celtic church in Ireland to establish a Christian community in the island. The first monks there were Celtic and Colombian.
The Abbey was built around 600Ad, but was replaced in the 12th century by larger and better buildings.
The community thrived until the 16th century when the Scottish reformation caused the buildings to go into ruin.
Iona was left in this state until the abbey was restored earlier this century. George Mcleod set up a new Christian community on the island. He was tired of the attitude people had and disliked the way of life in the outside world. He had grown up in a cruel world and wanted to set up a community, which could be completely Christian and free from the sins of the outside world. He had been bought up on the streets of Glasgow where he had become a priest. The county rebuilt the abbey and it’s surrounding buildings in 1938. As many as twenty thousand pilgrims had began to visit the island even back then every year. People would visit the island to renew their faith and realise that life could exist with God and they could run their lives with the idea of Christianity beside it as the residents in Iona did. The reason so many Christians to Iona is the great difference it makes in their spiritual beliefs many people believe that a visit to Iona made a massive difference to their spiritual lives. They feel that their visit enabled their faith to reach higher levels because they have spent time with a group of people who are all like-minded Christians, who all have the same views. All though some people disagree, the idea of a being with other Christians is an important one, as it erasures people about there faith.
Overall a person who visits Iona feels their faith is restored, and begins to know that they can live their life in a Christian and holy way in the outside world.
Question 2
There are many reasons for people to go on a pilgrimage, some religious and spiritual, some not. Most people go on a pilgrimage to renew their faith and their relationship with God. Because the whole idea of the pilgrimage is related to their faith, they also believe that it will make a difference to how they run their everyday lives. Some people go on a pilgrimage for repentance.
This may be because they have done something specifically wrong, and want forgiveness, or just for general sins. It would make a person feel better in themselves if they have done penance for their sins, and they would that God is just in forgiving them. Another benefit of going on a pilgrimage is the fellowship that will be received. People will be going to a place with like-minded people who have similar beliefs. A pilgrimage could also be looked apon as a religious holiday, in which you could make new friends, have fun and maybe even get a suntan! Yet all this would be done while developing your relationship with God. The friends made could easily become friends for life, and there may even be a possibility of meeting them on future pilgrimages. This, even though of not significant religious importance is a good benefit of going on a pilgrimage.
A large number of people go on a pilgrimage to be healed. It maybe that there is a legend about a certain place and it having healing properties, or even that many people get healed at a certain pilgrimage spot frequently. This may even have psychological effects, because even if the person is not healed directly, they may have found new hope, and may believe themselves to get better, which would aid the healing process.
Many people visit places where Jesus had travelled in his life, to help the bible to come to life. Following the footsteps Jesus took to the cross, and seeing that place where he was horrifically crucified would make the story of the crucifixion come to life, and strengthen peoples faiths and beliefs.
A pilgrimage is a good time in which someday could spend a lot of time in prayer and reflection. They can reflect on there lives and how they are running, but also forget there everyday problems and concentrate on deep and thoughtful prayer, and communication worth God. Also knowledge could be deepened and people could help others and care for those in need.
Different places of pilgrimage will provoke different reasons for going on an pilgrimage, for example Lourdes will normally receive a lot o visitors who are sick or disabled, where as those who go to the holy land will most likely go to reinact the bible.
There are many reason people go on pilgrimages, and the reasons all aid their relationship with God and enable people to live their life in a better way.