Grooves In Floor From Pilgrims Walking On Their Knees

Arm on the ground with guilty man figure on his knees feeling sorry crime scene enactment.

Grooves in floor from pilgrims walking on their knees.

Climbing the holy stairs on one s knees is a devotion much in favour with pilgrims and the faithful. Something about the physical discomfort helped me to focus on the much greater pain. I remember as a child people praying walking on their knees in our church so i thought i ll give it a shot. Observers said there were more young people than usual.

Instead of walking across the continent pilgrims could instead walk to a cathedral that had a labyrinth on its floor in the sanctuary. This is the church. Before long i had tears in my eyes and not from the uneven grooves worn into the wood by pilgrims knees. But above all any pilgrimage is a questing a journey of search with the hope of becoming closer to god.

They would then get down on their knees and place their arms inside the mouths of the two lions and pray again. The stone steps leading up to the shrine of st thomas becket were all worn down about 1 3 of the way in the middle from the knees of pilgrims climbing the stairs to the great saint s tomb. My mind doesn t wander off that much anymore. As i observed father and the pilgrims moving forward i got on my knees and started praying.

Many wore the traditional sackcloth of penitence. My mind would wander off as i would pray the rosary so i wanted to do something that would help me focus. The pilgrims would walk the labyrinth on their knees. Other pilgrims seemed to be in their seventies or eighties and i watched them literally crawl from step to step gingerly seeking a place to set their knees.

Others dragged cinderblocks and stones along the asphalt. Many went on pilgrimage to seek repentance. They moved swiftly and got further and further away. As for me i kept lagging behind and walking on my knees became.

Standing at the bottom of the steps i realized. Pani rose june 20 2007 6 26pm 8. Pope pius vii on 2 september 1817 granted those who ascend the stairs in the prescribed manner an indulgence of nine years for every step. Anyone else here knee walk while praying the rosary.

Crawling on our knees praying and all desiring to move in the same general direction of heaven. One day before the break of dawn to avoid the crowds i joined father michael and some of the pilgrims to pray walking on our knees. Pilgrims walk on their knees toward the basilica of guadalupe at sunrise in mexico city november 30 2008. Many arrived at the chapel exhausted and bleeding after excruciating treks barefoot on their knees or even dragging themselves along the ground.

Here pilgrims would insert the tips of their fingers and their thumb of their right hand into the grooves of the column and rest their forehead against the statue and say a prayer.