How to make a Lenten pilgrimage

Pope Francis has declared 2025 a year of jubilee to become pilgrims of hope. One way to embrace the Pope’s request is to make a formal pilgrimage to sacred sites designated by a local bishop. Pilgrims, by definition, embark on a pilgrimage. These journeys are distinct and are noteworthy for several characteristics: They are slow; they show movement; they contain purpose; they are defined by prayer. The themes of this Sunday’s readings show many of the same characteristics. Thinking of Lent as a pilgrimage has the potential to be a helpful way to begin our reflection for this Sunday’s readings. 

A pilgrimage is slow. This Sunday’s first reading comes from Deuteronomy. This passage is a prayer of thanksgiving that priests recited over the first offerings of every harvest. Part of the prayer recalled the memory of Israel’s journey and the blessing immortalized the slow hardship of the exodus from Egypt. “When the Egyptians maltreated and oppressed us, imposing hard labor upon us, we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and he heard our cry and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression” (Dt 26:6-7). The prayer of thanksgiving was the fruit of many generations who reflected on hardship and found in it reasons to be grateful. Repeating the memory yearly allowed it to sink into people’s consciousness and slowly grow into a prayer of thanksgiving. The transformative moment revolved around the phrase “God heard our cry.”  Wherever the journey leads, the pilgrim is not alone but in the presence of God, who hears, sees and responds.     

A pilgrimage involves movement. Recently, a parishioner was struggling with a sense of feeling lukewarm in her faith journey. If she were to see her journey as a pilgrimage, the most helpful advice I might offer would be to look for subtle places of spiritual movement. For example, noticing her own feeling of lukewarmness is itself a movement and gift from God. This Sunday’s psalm captures the experience of feeling hope even in  troubled times, whether those troubles be spiritual or material turmoil. “Because he clings to me, I will deliver him; I will set him on high because he acknowledges my name” (Ps 91:14). The actual psalm expresses a time of drudgery surrounded by illness and unavoidable danger, perhaps a time of war affecting the community. The unshakeable faith for deliverance is the only movement left for the psalmist.

A pilgrimage shows purpose. This Sunday’s psalm was quoted in the Gospel passage by the shadowy figure who tempted Jesus in the wilderness. Luke’s presentation of the temptation of Jesus is unique. Each Gospel presents a purpose for Jesus’ life mission. Luke makes a substantial effort to show that Jesus held the credentials for his messianic role. Luke’s comprehensive infancy narrative has already set the tone. The temptation in the desert, as Luke described it, showed a well-prepared Jesus who was ready to embrace the role of messiah and savior. As he entered this desert scene, it was never a real possibility that the devil would get the upper hand. Instead, the scene revealed how capable Jesus was in facing the obstacles that stood in the way of his purpose. The devil cannot stop God’s momentum.

The devil can keep trying, in any case. Notable in the scene was the manner in which the devil contorted Scripture to block the momentum that Jesus had initiated through fasting and prayer. “He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,” quotes the devil, “With their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone” (Lk 4:10-11; Ps 91:11-12). If Jesus were not prepared, did not have the spiritual credentials for the task at hand and did not have a messianic purpose, he might have fallen for the deception presented. But Jesus, already at the beginning of the Gospel of Luke, was well-prepared for the pilgrimage ahead. The devil leaves Jesus, but only “for a time,” says the Gospel.   

A pilgrimage is defined by prayer. This aspect, the need for constant prayer while on a journey, was already modeled by Jesus in this Sunday’s readings. The second reading accentuates the ultimate purpose gained through steadfast prayer: “No one who believes in him will be put to shame” (Rom 10:11). One’s faith journey, when understood as a pilgrimage, is never in vain. Prayer allows this insight to take hold. It remains the key to a Lenten pilgrimage marked by slowness, movement and purpose.