I WAS very moved recently when a Muslim friend of mine asked me to pray for him while he was on pilgrimage to Mecca.

As I pray for him, it means that, in some small way, I am sharing in his journey.

For a Muslim, going to Mecca at least once in a lifetime is an obligation. It is not just a matter of making the trip, it is also a matter of the heart. It is a way of living out obedience to God.

Our Christian cathedrals, when they were first built, were places of pilgrimage. People would journey to Canterbury, York or Durham in order to get nearer to that which is holy.

Today Christians go on pilgrimage to Lourdes, to Assisi, to the Holy Land and to many other places. The actual journey is important. All the things that happen along the way, even the tiredness and the fatigue, are important. They reveal to us that life itself is a journey.

Whether we are religious or not, there is a sense in which we are all pilgrims. Human life is about growing and changing. It is about new discoveries. It is about finding new opportunities.

Some of us refuse to make this pilgrimage. We are content to remain stuck in our ruts. If life is comfortable for us, it is sometimes tempting to want to stay still and ignore the world outside. We can be addicted to comfort just as much as the addict can be hooked on drugs or drink. We say -- "Don't give me life, give me comfort."

In the Christian calendar, we are now in Lent. This is a time when we are meant to examine our lives and see what new things God is calling us to. In spirit we are meant to take the journey that Jesus took in his lifetime from his carpenter's bench in Nazareth, through Galilee, and up to Jerusalem. We are meant to follow him through the last weeks of his life. His trial, his death, and finally his resurrection on Easter Day.

We all know what it is like to journey with a friend when they go through difficult times. We support them. Perhaps we go with them to hospital for an appointment.

We then go and visit them after an operation and, hopefully, we are there as they return home and find a new lease of life.

To share another's sorrows and then to be able to share in their joy is a wonderful thing.

It is this kind of journey that Christ asks us to share with him in these next few weeks leading up to Easter. What is certain is that, unless we are willing to share the journey, we cannot share the joy.

Michael Williams

Vicar of Bolton Parish Church