Community News

The center stone of Richmond Hill's Jerusalem Mile was finally laid on June 13th, 2008. The Jerusalem Mile was built in honor of Dabney J. Carr III. Dabney Carr was a teacher in the Ruah School of Spiritual Guidance, and also served as a spiritual director for many of the students. The Jerusalem Mile is a fitting tribute to this deeply prayerful man.

The Jerusalem Mile was the name given to some labyrinths used for meditation and built in the Middle Ages. The concept was that pilgrims who could not make the journey to Jerusalem during their lifetime could pray and reach Jerusalem in the spirit by walking this labyrinthine path. Richmond Hill's installation of a copy of the labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral, itself a center for pilgrimages, will be called the Jerusalem Mile in honor of this tradition. This example of the widest accepted prayer labyrinth in the Church has eleven circuits which are spread through four quadrants, and is symbolic of Christ's cross. Grace is symbolized by the never-ending path to the center and back, allowing the pilgrim to walk the path at his own pace, stop for prayer and meditation as needed.

“The labyrinth is not a maze. There are no tricks to it and no dead ends. It has a single circuitous path that winds into the center. The person walking it uses the same path to return and the entrance then becomes the exit. The path is in full view, which allows a person to be quiet and focus internally. Generally there are three stages to the walk: releasing on the way in, receiving in the center and returning; that is, taking back out into the world that which you have received. There is no right way or wrong way to walk a labyrinth. There are many ways to describe a labyrinth. It is a path of prayer, a walking meditation, a crucible of change, a watering hole for the spirit and a mirror of the soul.” http://www.veriditas.net/about/labyrinths.h

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