2. These ad limina visits bring into full view this movement or life-blood between the particular Churches and the Church as a whole that theologians call perichoresis. The process may be compared to the diastolic-systolic movements within the human body when the blood is carried to the outer limbs and from there flows back to the heart.

Some trace and example of a first ad limina visit is found in Paul’s letter to the Galatians, in which the Apostle tells the story of his conversion and the journey he undertook among the pagans. Although he knew that he had been called and instructed personally by Christ who had conquered death, he wrote these words: "[Then] did I go up to Jerusalem to meet Cephas. I stayed fifteen days with him" (Gal 1:18). "It was not until fourteen years later that I travelled up to Jerusalem again [...] I expounded the whole gospel that I preach the gentiles, to make quite sure that the efforts I was making and had already made should not be fruitless" (Gal 2: 1-2).