- Compare to a Retreat & Vacation, similar and different
Retreat (similar) Latin retrahere ‘to draw back’ refers to an extended time set aside for prayer and reflection; usually those making a retreat withdraw from the concerns of daily life and spend time at a quiet location
Retreat house- a place holding a retreat, such as a convent or monastery[1]
Prayer- Latin prex, meaning request or entreaty, is often defined as lifting up of the mind and heart to God. Prayer, as a conversation with God, may take many forms: silent and internal, spoken and public, formal or spontaneous, and so on. See CCC 2559-2565[2]
Not about the journey, retreat about taking ot of the world, as opposed to going tino the world. Personal conversation with God, remove distractions, intimate conversation with God.
Retreat go within, pilgrimage go outward
Important to be at a holy place in both instances.
Vacation (contra)
Vacation- late 14c., “freedom from obligations, leisure, release” (from some activity or occupation), from Old French vacacion “vacancy, vacant position” (14c.) and directly from Latin vacationem (nominative vacatio) “leisure, freedom, exemption, a being free from duty, immunity earned by service,” noun of state from past-participle stem of vacare “be empty, free, or at leisure,”[3]
Empty and free (in the common understanding of the word) opposite of a pilgrimage for spiritual reasons.
Can you drive while praying a rosary, no. Say a rosary while driving yes. Can make a pilgrimage during vacation.
Vacation temporal happiness of person, not eternal happiness. Pilgrimage directed to eternal happiness.
Fit a temporal happiness within an eternal happiness.
Pilgrimage, eschaton, eternal destiny, Pilgrim Church, Pilgrim People this is not our final home. Heaven is the goal.
[1] Ford 162
[2] Ford 148
[3] https://www.etymonline.com/word/vacation accessed September 11, 2024