Labyrinths have been common in virtually all world cultures and have been present in Christianity since at least the 4th century. The origin of the archetype is obscure and how it "works" is a mystery. Not surprisingly, in Christianity, labyrinths took on symbolic meanings.

During the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church held that a person's sin would be forgiven if he/she participated in a crusade or financed one or sent servants to fight in one. Similarly, taking a pilgrimage was also a way to forgiveness. This abusive system worked well for the wealthy but the poor and women were left out. Over time, the Church re-envisioned primitive labyrinths as a substitute for making a pilgrimage, suitable for the poor, women and laborers, like farmers, who could not leave their crops. To this day, a labyrinth walk has the nature of a pilgrimage, both external in the walking meditation and internal in the quiet introspection the walk engenders.

The labyrinth at St. Augustine's was modeled after the famous and complicated pattern found at Chartres Cathedral which dates to the 13th century. Some scholars believe that the labyrinth evolved there as a liturgical tool. During the Easter celebration, the Dean of the Cathedral would walk to the Center, followed by the congregation, which would symbolize the journey to Jerusalem, and the Center would stand for the Garden Tomb, the place of empty waiting. The journey out was the dance of resurrection. I imagine the celebrants (priests and people) walking painfully and slowly as to a dirge into the labyrinth, waiting with expectation and hope in the Center (Joseph's Tomb) and dancing with joy and abandon out into the world. This vibrant tradition of the labyrinth as liturgical reenactment, as liturgical dance, was lost during the reformation when rationality won out over imagination and mythos; during the Enlightenment emphasis shifted to explanation and explication rather than mystery and awe.

As we walk the labyrinth today, it can be a time to lay down a burden in the Center as a sacrificial gift to the Holy One. It may be a time to receive from God greater clarity and renewal as God's gift to us. Labyrinths nurture the spirit.

We offer the labyrinth as a prayer walk to the community on three of the Wednesdays during Advent (December 1st, 8th and 15th at 7 p.m.) We, in a sense, go with the Holy Family on a pilgrimage from our Nazareths to our Bethlehems. We go with expectant hearts and a holy hope that Christ, at the Nativity, might be revealed in us. The Spirit of God walks the road with us; indeed, she directs the path, for this circle is the practice of the presence of God.

(Note: those planning to walk the labyrinth are asked to be prepared to walk barefoot or to bring warm socks for the walk. We encourage you to bring friends to walk with you. Most walks take about one hour. Our bookstore has a limited supply of small "hand labyrinths" suitable for gifting yourself or another.)