A miracle which owes nothing to the beyond

A true return to grace. Gone are the days where one went to pilgrimage, bag back to received ideas and faith connection to Pataugas, to discover our favourite destinations of catechesis. The spiritual journey, déringardisé, is in the wind. In India, the Ardh Kumbh Mela, celebrated last spring, remains the largest ever assembled human mass. Long March of forty-five days undertaken once every twelve years by millions of believers in the silence of the effort to the sacred waters of the Ganges. Great travel format. More close, Santiago de Compostela where we celebrated a Jubilee year, saint Jacques falling Sunday. Rare opportunity to get the plenary indulgence, absolution for his sins. And win a Compostela (diploma of the Pilgrim) of luxury. Better that the multiplication of the loaves, a flood of pilgrims and converged in August to Santiago by different paths, some passing through San Marcos de León in Spain monastery. A miracle which owes nothing to the beyond. Journalist Alix of Saint André, a repeater, it says in, road!, exhilarating story of experiences: "We do not travel with God;" God dwells in the corner; We will see it or, if he wants, whether one believes and even better: If one thinks not. "Give meaning to our wanderings, get thirsty landscapes dedicated to the internal path, is the time to it. Follow the guide.

In this inner quest for a supplement of docking, the travel is good ally. To practise in the rules of the art, as in Earth full (ex-La provides), the Agency of the pilgrimage which quadrille any Christian geography, the pass of Roncesvalles in Iraqi Kurdistan. "If the spiritual is intangible, travel is the time par excellence of see and touch.". "The traveller research what is true", sums up Hubert Desbbach, its President. In groups guided by priests, the Agency mixture of believers and simple tourists who do not necessarily have the eyes of faith. Act of proselytism, without prior signing of commitment, but with a good dose of respect for the other. Strongly recommended even in la besace: Bible pocket in addition to the tourist guide, God is in the detail. A classic of the genre is from Tamanrasset towards the Hermitage of Assekrem where lived in hermit, between the two immensities of the sky and the Hoggar, brother Charles de Foucauld, beatified in 2005. Four hours of trail in a 4 x 4 that swallows literally mineral areas, five days if you prefer travelling by fair means, i.e. walking, question of elegance.

The experience of the desert nil requires browse the shelves of our internal libraries. Think about the world and dream perhaps. When the time of memories, the deadly dull we would if there was this mineral wealth all around. Forward, basaltic plateaus in massive granite rose, a horizon embattled fingers of lava. At each stop and bivouac, the repeated ritual of tea served by expert hands in narrow glasses brings together the solitudes of the walk. The first tea is said "bitter as life", the second "sweet as love" and the "third suave as death". The Tuareg did not fear death and respect their environment. Charles de Foucauld, Aristocrat, agnostic Fashionista, ascetic who found the faith at the age of 28, was the great specialist of their language and their culture. More than thirty minutes of ascent, the mythical Hermitage, small house built in dry stone, also what high-power tiny, is finally at the top of a rock piton swept by the winds.

Almost 3,000 metres above sea level, the spectacle on the Tassili du Hoggar and its needles are serious forever. Two little brothers of Jesus continue to ensure that, for over thirty years, in full Tuareg country, liturgical presence. Occupying their time to review the manuscripts left by Charles. Eyes on the horizon, brother Alain tells his life, his nights of prayer, the Algeria of the North, the arrival of abbé Pierre in Assekrem, too rare rain, tourism which went in the 1990s. Then, when the discussion is too specific on Algerian news, it fades and disappears, leaving the djins, "spirits", make the suite... And he went.

Beyond the great journey "in the footsteps of", the spiritual can quickly become as a secondary residence. Monasteries in hermitages, "Camino" in sacred routes, some travellers take taste to "Pele", getting monacaux deposits and modest covered. To withdraw from the daily hustle and bustle, the Cistercian Abbey of la Trappe immerses the visitor in a world of silence. Deviations... tolerated in the large park bordering the monastery forest of Perche. "Such a calm not weigh us because we did not stop talk between us," admit two girls cross over there. One of them adding: "and you, your laptop goes". Other ideas of escape: Mount Athos in Greece (for men only), the Koyasan to the Japan not far from Kyoto, the ashram of Amma in the backwaters of Kerala.

Discover confidential areas is also part of the trip: the retirement of three days on the Venetian island of San Francesco del Deserto provides access to one of the most beautiful sites of the lagoon, the serene backdrop of. And God in all that

PHOTO: JOHN FRUMM / HEMIS.FR; TURESPANA / TOURISM SPANISH; BARBARA AINIS; CORMON FRANCIS / HEMIS.FR