Walking home to country is a connection our people have always had with Mother Earth. Our culture is defined by the closeness of family circles and staying connected to the people within it. The labyrinth invites and welcomes people to walk the path together – it calls them to the land in oneness. (Aunty Ali Golding, Aboriginal Elder, Biripi Nation)
As the wind calls the trees to dance, may this walking reflection invite us to rediscover the genuine rhythm of our human journey. The pilgrim deep within each of us is aware of an unseen world that shapes us. It calls us to a different tempo that can renew our life. The ancient gospel is a story of such a journey that reveals a new kingdom of love. May this prayer of the labyrinth lead us gently into a new dance with our one precious life. (Monsignor Tony Doherty, Church of Mary Magdalene)
The labyrinth represents the spiritual journey, inward to our inner selves and the Sacred within, outward to the world held in God’s love and yearning for peace and justice. (Rev Dr Margaret Mayman, Pitt Street Uniting Church)
Meditative prayer connects us with the eternal, singular, conscious being known as ‘God’. Prayer invites God’s presence to permeate our presence. Prayer cannot bring water to parched fields, nor mend a broken bridge, but it can water an arid soul and mend a broken heart. Pray as if everything depends on God, but act as if everything depends on you. (Rabbi Jeffrey Kamins, Emanuel Synagogue)
A pilgrimage is a moment when people come from every corner of the world to share the spiritual experience. They come in humility and sincerity to God Almighty. (Imam Amin Hady, Zetland Mosque)
Look at your feet. There is your mind. See where your feet are. You are there. (Venerable Boan Sunim, Korean Puri Temple, Gordon)
Walk as if you are kissing the earth with your feet. When we are walking with mindfulness, then the walker and that which is walked upon become one, the division between self /other dissolves into the sacredness of walking with a peaceful heart. (Zen Roshi – Subhana Barzaghi, Sydney Zen Centre)
In the journey of faith through life, we are given paths which help us to live more fully within that one journey. In the Christian liturgical tradition, every year is a pilgrimage celebrating the two primary cycles of Advent-Christmas and of Lent-Easter. Among the ways of reflecting and meditating on our journey of faith and our relationship with God and others, are such treasures as the Labyrinth. (Father Martin Davies , St James Church)
Nothing can bar or mar the paths of those who truly believe in the name. They depart from here with honour. They do not lose the proper path. The spirit of those imbued with faith is wedded to the realization of truth. (Jaspal Singh, Sikh Temple,)
One of the first things we find God doing in the Bible is walking in the garden of Eden in the cool of the day (Gen 3.8). God promises the people: ‘I walk among you and be your God’ (Lev 26.12). The Bible can pay no greater compliment than to say of some people that they ‘walked with God’ (Gen 5.4). The apostle Paul describes the Christian life as walking by ‘faith’ not sight (2 Cor 5.7). (Rev Dr Geoff Broughton, Paddington Anglican Church)
For me, prayer is walking. Every step is a prayer. The way unfolds, and all it asks is trust and humility. The road always leads home. Step by step. (Ailsa Piper, Writer and Pilgrim)
