On the Church as Militant and as Pilgrim
We have a very profound subject to meditate on from the readings this Sunday. It is the word “Pilgrim.” Who is a pilgrim? A pilgrim is a traveler who seeks the face of God. One who travels to a sacred and holy place to meet God. That is a pilgrim.
As a result of the sin of disobedience, Adam and Eve were cast out from Eden, from the face of God, from that sacred and holy place. Incidentally, that is what happens to us when we sin, we turn ourselves away from the face of God, to whom we must return. And from that time on, Adam and all his descendants became pilgrims. We must return to holiness, to being in the presence of God. And thus, we are pilgrims, travelers on a journey, seeking the face of God, traveling back to a holy place, our heavenly homeland. Therefore, the Church has taken on herself this nature of a pilgrim. We are the pilgrim Church, “a people that long to see the face of God” (Psalm 24:6). Where is the face God? Where is that face that Veronica once wiped with her veil, when she was gifted with the mark of his face? We seek His Face, that once shone so brightly at the Mount of Transfiguration.
The first book of Chronicles (29:15) says, “For we are strangers before you, oh Lord, and sojourners as all our fathers were, our days on earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding.” As pilgrims we move about on this cosmos, all the while, we hear His voice, like a mother calling her estranged young ones, so God calls us back to Himself. Every person in the world has an inner desire for perfect happiness, and that is God Himself. We increasingly discover that our rare moments of happiness on earth are rather short and imperfect, because they are only a participation in the full and perfect happiness which is God Himself.
God said to Abraham, “Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk, from your father’s house to a land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1). To a land that I will show you! And without questions, without arguments nor hesitation, Abraham went forth. Such commendable disposition to do God’s will! And so, Abraham was a pilgrim, to a land unknown to him, but a land which God will show to him, nonetheless. This call of Abraham is also a call of all the people of the whole world, as St. Paul beautifully put it, “He saved us and called us to a holy life” (2Timothy 1:9). What is this holy life if not the life with God, eternal life. In the Greek language, the word for holy is “agios.” It means ‘set apart by God.’ So, if God has called us to a holy life, it means that God has ‘set us apart’ for Himself, to be with Him. Therefore, in imitation of Abraham and his praiseworthy faith, we too are pilgrims. We walk by faith not by sight. Faith in God’s promise of eternal happiness.
St. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, “Brethren, you have learned from us how you ought to walk to please God – as indeed you are walking – we beseech and exhort you in the Lord Jesus to make even greater progress… abstain from immorality” (1Thess. 4:1). Friends, we know that the devil offers short-cuts, just like he tried unsuccessfully to tempt our Lord in the desert, only to drag poor souls into hell, with cheap and empty pursuits of worldly pleasures. So, we always say to our guardian Angels; “Angel of God my guardian dear, to whom God’s love commits me here, ever this day be at my side, to light and guard to rule and to guide; take me by the hand, I promised obedience, through your guidance, that you may lead me to eternal happiness.”
Our Lord himself said, “when I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (Jn. 14:3-6). Then he said, “I am the Way,” and “I am the Gate (Jn 10:9), the door.” Friends, there is no other way to heaven. Jesus is the only way. And, as pilgrims we follow him. It is not about just reconciling with God; it is about living with Him. The apostles Peter, James and John had a glimpse of that glory that is to be revealed in us, when they went up on the mountain of Transfiguration with our Lord. And Peter wanted to stay. But then, he discovered that, first, he must follow Christ to the very end, he must be part of the procession to the where the lamb of God will be led to slaughter, so that by the shedding of the blood of the lamb of God, the door to heaven will be opened. This procession is the way of the Cross to Calvary. And here is the true meaning of the entrance procession at the beginning of Holy Mass. The whole assembly of the pilgrim Church, the Church militant, is caught up in this procession which comes to a stop at the foot of the Altar, where the lamb of God will be pierced by the lance, and the door to the Holy of Holies will be opened for us.
So, as pilgrims we travel, we keep our focus intently on Jesus, the only sure Way to the promised land. We “stand by the roads, we seek and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and we walk in it” (Jer. 6:16). As Pope Benedict XVI put it, “what our forefathers held so dear and considered sacred, remains true for us as well, we cannot just drop it” (Summorum Pontificum). We must be faithful to Christ the only way. And as the famous late singer, Harry Secombe of Wales put it, “Guide me O thou great redeemer, Pilgrim through this barren land; I am weak, but thou art mighty; Hold me with thy powerful hand; Bread of Heaven, Bread of Heaven; Feed me now and evermore.”
Amen
Given on the Second Sunday of Lent, February 5th, 2023 – Fr. Joseph Wasswa
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