From time-to-time many of us consider making a pilgrimage. Those who lead such trips know that this special travel comprises the following three components: (1) travel to a holy place; (2) commemoration of the event that took place in that given locale; and, (3) letting God speak to you on the pilgrimage.

In today’s Gospel of Luke (9:51-62) Jesus resolutely heads to Jerusalem—He’s on a pilgrimage to a holy place and a few things are going to happen on this journey that will test the tolerance, the faith and comfort levels of His companions. We too are lucky this weekend that in hearing this gospel we are able to take a spiritual pilgrimage without making the physical journey—and we can make this pilgrimage with Christ and His companions.

In this gospel we too, like the travelers with Jesus, are forced to be tolerant. We will be asked to travel light and not to look back as we head with Jesus to Jerusalem—and we are asked to “let go of that which holds us back in faith.” And by meditating on this gospel we can travel our own spiritual pilgrimage without ever leaving our own home.

Our LIFE is meant to be a spiritual pilgrimage—one in which we will be called and challenged to preserve. One in which we will be called to travel to a “holy place” – the territory of our very life; and one which most certainly will be a time of travel when God will indeed speak to us. We will be challenged to commemorate many events and happenings in our holy life. Our life is a spiritual
Pilgrimage calling us to commemorate the deep history and traditions of our faith, the gracious and merciful love of God our Father, and the joy in which we are each called to live as Christian disciples— spreading God’s love all around us in our families, communities and world by sharing His Good News to all. This is a grand invitation from God to be His partners in building-up the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.

How does God speak to us? He calls us in Baptism and Confirmation to be His Likeness and
Image in the world around us, giving us all the grace that we will need to succeed. He calls us to the table to be nourished with His Body and Blood, food for the journey and strength for the world’s trials and tribulations that lie ahead. He calls us with world challenges to our faith, asking us to grow our faith by believing it, living it and sharing it in-and-through the difficulties of life: sicknesses, trials, at times difficult family life, joyless careers, strained relationships,disappointments—that are weaved in and through the joys of life. In these challenges we are not called to be defeated but rather asked to choose between becoming better or bitter. The words our dear Lord uses to speak to us may not always be the words we would choose or hope to hear, but they are always
given to us out of Divine love and a desire to bring us to the excellence to which God always calls us. For in the end we believe that He will never abandon us. He will always walk with us in each joy, each difficulty, and each sorrow. For our God is The God of Love. Our God will make all things anew.