Image and Pilgrimage: Our Lady of Montserrat




In a little yellow cable car, we ascended to the top of the mountain. For such a rickety machine, it made its way up at an alarming speed and I would occasionally cower away from the window each time it swiftly approached the rocks. As the car began to level off I could begin to see the 11th century monastery peak out, tucked away comfortably in the side of the mountain.

I still can't fathom how the journey up this mountain could have been feasible 900 years ago, both physically and spiritually. What level of faith and devotion does it take for a man to climb so high and dedicate himself to a life of solitude in the mountains?

I remember the winding path that I took further up the mountain, marked by each of the 14 Stations of the Cross. Some people come here to jog or to tour the area. Others came with rosaries and prayed alongside the pathway. It's interesting how the affect this place has on people vary. Is it a matter of indifference to some? Or is it something else?

As Turner explains, there's a blur between tourism and pilgrimage which only the visitor can personally distinguish. His assertion of determining the demarcation between the two as either rooted in the liminal/liminoid or in the religious significance is rather evident in the example of Montserrat. The communitas I experienced with the party I traveled with helped reveal the sacredness, perhaps an echo of the same relational closeness experienced by generations before.


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