MANILA, Philippines ? During the crusades in the 12th century, Christian pilgrims traveled to Jerusalem, then and now known as the Holy Land, to seek divine help, forgiveness and redemption.

These journeys were not fun at all as they were fraught with uncertainties and dangers as was depicted in the movie ?Kingdom of Heaven,? a story of a crusader?s ?vision of a kingdom of conscience, morality, and righteousness? in Jerusalem.

Sites connected with the birth, life, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ also became popular pilgrimage sites, as did places where there have been confirmed apparitions of the Virgin Mary, specifically Lourdes in France and Fatima in Portugal.

Today, even if the Church no longer compels Catholics to go on pilgrimage, many continue to visit religious places to venerate them, to seek divine intervention, or to fulfill some religious obligation. A pilgrimage continues to be a spiritual journey for many Christians as they seek to separate themselves from the daily rigors of the world and spend time in the presence of God by traveling to a place with special religious significance.

For this writer, the La Naval de Manila procession in Quezon City holds a special personal meaning. Journeying through the back streets of Santo Domingo church in communion with tens of thousands of other devotees that have continued to grow in number over the last 30 years, has been a source of a strong sense of faith and spiritual renewal.

Soiled and barefoot, pants folded to his knees, and maroon shirt soaked in sweat, Vice President Noli de Castro similarly gains spiritual nourishment from his annual panata before the 400-year-old image of the Black Nazarene of Quiapo. His panata brings him face-to-face with hundreds of thousands of other barefoot devotees twice every year for the arduous trip around Quiapo, with able-bodied men clinging to a rope attached to the carriage bearing the Black Nazarene. Everyone who comes near the image tries to touch it in the belief that doing so would mean answered prayers.

?A pilgrimage is a symbol expressed in concrete terms,? according to Msgr. Pedro Quitorio III, media director of the Catholic Bishops? Conference of the Philippines. ?Ordinary places become special for different reasons and Christians decide to visit them to get closer to God through them.? The Philippine Church continuously studies the various sites to be considered sacred and which people are encouraged to visit in order to receive certain indulgences.

For couple Arnold and Lily Quibilan, a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in November 2005 was a way of expressing gratitude. ?It was also a realization of our dream,? said the couple, who joined the pilgrimage organized by a local parish group and a travel agency. ?It was a reaffirmation of our faith as Christians.?

Arnold, an engineer by profession, said the trip reaffirmed the faith that was only handed down to him by his parents. ?It?s different when you actually get to see where Jesus was born, raised, started his ministry, suffered his death, and rose again in triumph,? he reflected. ?Two thousand years is not too long after all.? His wife Lily said the week-long pilgrimage was too short. ?There are just too many things to see in too short a time,? she said. ?I would like to go back and spend more time in Bethlehem, right at the spot where the manger was.?

Like most Filipinos, Arnold and Lily have also been to Manaoag, Antipolo, and Lipa?three of the most popular pilgrimage sites in the country dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. They have likewise been to the Kamay ni Hesus Healing Church located just below the 50-foot statue of the Ascending Christ in Lucban, built on the fringes of the mystic Mount Banahaw, a pilgrimage site in its own right, in Quezon.

For some sociologists, a pilgrimage is simply about men of a mountain tribe who, when they find themselves in the plain and in need of divine help, trek back to the mountains to petition their gods.

For most Filipino Catholics, however, faith has always been their mountain. They will always return to their faith?in whatever corner of the Philippines or in the world it may be?this Holy Week.