God’s Footsteps in Us

We are in an overwhelmingly Muslim country, intermixed with tourists, where there are more cats than Christians. Today we were privileged to visit a few of the many ancient cave churches, where, in days of old, the numberless faithful Christians of Cappadocia worshiped. Hollowed out of rock, these sacred spaces are as immovable as the hills themselves, some still beautified by colorful mosaics on walls and ceilings. During our hour and a half to freely view and pray in the dim churches we were surrounded by people who seemed to be tourists—posing for pictures and chattering. The spiritual intention as pilgrims distinguishes us, sometimes latently, from tourists. This experience reminds me that going to famous pilgrimage sites is only profitable insofar as it is accompanied by prayer and interiority. As St. Gregory of Nyssa said, “change of place does not effect any drawing nearer unto God, but wherever thou mayest be, God will come to thee, if the chambers of thy soul be found of such a sort that He can dwell in thee and walk in thee.” These words, spoken by a Cappadocian Father, would seem to qualify the spiritual benefit of our sojourn, ironically, in Cappadocia. Further, St. Gregory of Nyssa reminds me of the vanity of visiting sacred stone temples if God is not also invited to visit and dwell in the temple of our bodies.  God is omnipresent, alive in Chicago just as in Cappadocia; the meat of pilgrimage is, amid travel, being a dwelling for God and dwelling in God. 

The concluding experience of this day reinforced this truth. On the way to our hotel, we drove an extra 45 minutes one-way to visit Lystra, where Paul and Barnabas preached and where Paul healed a cripple and was later stoned by the Jews (Acts 14:8-23). The location for these biblical events was unexcavated, unmarked, and unremarkable, nothing more than a hill in a rural field. Lonesome Lystra has no appeal for tourists; we pilgrims, however, got off the bus and spent some time in silence and prayer, listening to the respective reading from the Acts of the Apostles. Walking in St. Paul’s footsteps, whether in Cappadocia or Lystra, our prize is not so much setting foot on the same ground he trod, as it is inviting the same Lord he loved to walk in our souls. 

Visting these places expands our knowledge of history and our awe at the beauty of creation. May this trip also continue to inspire deeper faith and prayer, so that learning to praise God for the works of St. Paul here, we may, with the whole Church, render him like praise always and everywhere. “Wherefor, O you who fear the Lord, praise Him in the places where you now are” (St. Gregory of Nyssa, On Pilgrimages). 

-Simon Stehr, Archdiocese of Seattle