Searching within - the Pilgrim keys and the wreath of Christ

The Pilgrim's Key Words can become signs filled with meaning on your inner - mystical - pilgrim's journey. These words, which originally was formulated på the Pilgrim's chaplain of Vadstena Hans-Erik Lindström, represent to-day a shared tradition in the Nordic countries.

The Pilgrim’s Prayer Keys and the Wreath of Christ can become signposts filled with meaning on your inner – mystical – pilgrimage. These two variants of prayer beads are in many ways like siblings to each other, formed in the same spiritual stream.

The Swedish word “radband” comes from rav, an old word meaning amber. The rosary is a universal religious companion to prayer. They appear in many forms and under many names: the Catholic Rosary, the Orthodox prayer bands, as the komboskini in the Greek Orthodox Church, the mequteria in the Oriental Church, the Letovka in the Old believers Russian Church, the Misbahah or Tasbih of the Muslims, the Japa mala of the Hindus and Buddhists.

The prayer beads points to what unites us with each other. They can be a safe helper, a concrete thing to hold on to, to carry around our wrist, in our hand or closest to our hearts. It can help when our words are not enough. We are connected through the rosary to others who pray in an invisible community.

The Pilgrim’s Prayer Keys originally formulated by the pilgrim priest in Vadstena, Hans-Erik Lindström, and were made into a set of prayerbeads by pilgrims around the St Francis Trail along Lake Vättern. Today, the Keys represents a common pilgrimage tradition in the Nordic countries. The Pilgrim’s prayer Keys was inspired by the Wreath of Christ designed by Martin Lönnebo, bishop of Linköping diocese. Over the years, it has spread far beyond the Nordic countries and has become an ecumenical prayer band that unites Christians all over the world.

A Pilgrim’s key words prayer

We pray that we may come to the freedom in Christ –

where everything that binds will loose its power,

to the simplicity in Christ –

where everything that divides and distracts falls away,

to the silence in Christ –

where eveything becomes God’s living presence,

to the serenity in Christ –

where every moment is God’s now,

to the slowness in Christ –

so that we may receive the healing powers of life within us

to the spirituality in Christ –

that he is in us and we in him,

to the sharing in Christ –

where everything has been given to us to be

passed on to others.

A Pilgrim’s Prayer of Blessing

You are here,
within me,
all around me,
in front of me
and behind me.

You walk by my side.
You protect me
in every moment.

You never leave me.

Lord, fill my heart with praise
and let it overflow with gratitude
before your presence –
then all my joy will be fulfilled,
and all my sorrow will turn away from me.