Benedicta Ward

In the Company of Christ: Through Lent, Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter to Pentecost Benedicta Ward

With In the Company Christ, Sister Benedicta Ward, a church historian, guides us through the history of Christian procession. Through the practice of pilgrimage we live the resurrection, and join a wide Christian community. Pilgrimage is a way into the eternal Jerusalem, a way into the Gospel. Over centuries of practice, the rituals and traditions of pilgrimage have evolved.

Using the Holy Days of Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter as her signposts, Sr. Ward takes us through time. Among our stops is ancient Palestine, where we explore the writings of the 4th Spanish nun, Egeria. Leaving Jerusalem, we cross time and arrive in the rituals of medieval English monasticism. Finally, we end where we began, with a journey into the Trinity.

By taking part in this historical procession, we find a clear line of continuity between ancient and medieval times, and our own modernity. In the Company of Christ is a journey for an individual or for a parish, to be taken during Lent or any time of the church year.