The Abbey

Today, was a day to explore the Abbey and other areas of the island at our leisure.  The Abbey is a working ecumenical faith community but sits in a building that is from around 1200 AD.  A small part of the Abbey was built as a shrine to St. Columba and includes a cloister area as well.   

The cemetery next to the abbey is the burial place of an ancient burial ground where early Scottish kings, Norse and Irish monarchs, clan chiefs and other historical people.  St. Oran's Chapel in the cemetery is the oldest building on the island from about 1150 AD.  

At the north end of the island is a white sand beach known for the site of a massacre of 68 Benedictine monks by Viking raiders in 806 AD.  

We had time to read, walk, shop, eat, reflect and rest.  For many, these days on Iona have been the pinnacle of our pilgrimage. One of our travelers shared this morning...

Pilgrimage is never only an individual journey. Yes, each of us carries our own questions, longings & thresholds. We are companions on a shared adventure.

"Alone is just a journey. Now, adventures; they must be shared."

That is pilgrimage! We need our stories to be witnessed. We need our questions tended around a communal fire. We need fellow travelers to remind us who we are when the path grows uncertain & to celebrate with us when joy breaks through.

Transformation is always personal, but it is rarely solitary. We love one another into becoming.

Pastor Carolyn