Just as you need a good pair of shoes, you likewise cannot go on a pilgrimage without a good hat. But for what purpose? It depends on the time of year and on the lands, you will journey through. It needs to protect you from the sun’s rays and possibly having a neck flap that reaches to your shoulders. But then again, it might also rain along the way, so it might be better to get a hooded raincoat instead. Are you travelling to a cold climate? It might be better to take a beanie or a wool-lined cap. Do you know if you will be able to find lodging for the night?

By the time you decide what’s best to take with you, you’re already on the road, and what you are wearing on your head is your pilgrim hat. That, and the heavens, will be what covers your head against the elements (see Psalm 140:8), which tend to change more often than the mood swings of many. As we know, on a small island like Malta, weather forecasts are as accurate as a weathervane in a storm! Rain or shine, only God knows when! This has to be your attitude: trust in Him! Although pilgrimages are mentioned in the Bible, such as the epic journey of the Jewish people from Egypt to the promised land, which had the elements of a pilgrimage, hats are hardly mentioned when compared to helmets. Although helmets are associated with war, the Bible refers to the helmet four times as a symbol of salvation, justice and hope. In the third part of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, The Lord responds to the wickedness of the people by putting on “righteousness like a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on His Head” (Isaiah 59:17). In time this prophecy took on a messianic character, similar to what we find in the Book of Wisdom, when the author speaks about the recompense of the just as well as the Lord’s anger towards His enemies, wearing “righteousness as a breastplate” and “impartial justice as a helmet” (see Wisdom 5: 17-20).

Following the salvation wrought by Christ through His struggle and victory over sin and death, St Paul urges Christians to enter this struggle without weapons apart from those provided by God. He tells the Ephesians to put on the whole armour of God, so that they would be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, amongst which he tells them to put on “the helmet of salvation” (Eph 6:17). He also warns the Thessalonians to be alert for the coming of the Lord, the hour of which they do not know. We must therefore be prepared by living a holy life, by putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation, while building up and comforting each other, “for God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (see 1Thes 5:8-11).

I am certain that, if you have taken some type of hat, it would not be a heavy helmet. Although you have not embarked on a crusade, under the shade and shelter of your hat, you still need to struggle. Your crusade is not an exterior struggle but an interior one, that takes place deep within your soul. You will find yourself wrestling with the one you began your journey with, for the purpose of discovering him. After facing the darkness within yourself and the struggle with your travel companion, although you cannot recognise him in the dark, at dawn he will overcome you and give you his blessing (see Gen 32: 23-30).

Psalm 121: The Lord protects us
¹ I lift up my eyes to the hills—
from where will my help come?
² My help comes from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
³ He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
⁴ He who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
⁵ The LORD is your keeper;
the LORD is your shade at your right hand.
⁶ The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
⁷ The LORD will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
⁸ The LORD will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time on and forevermore.