Memorial of St. Agnes, virgin and martyr

Today's Mass Readings

Have you ever thought of the difference between a tourist and a pilgrim? Tourism is obviously big business today. On the other hand, making a pilgrimage seems to have much less appeal. Why would that be the case?

It all comes down to what the person wants to accomplish. If it’s excitement and seeing many beautiful things you want, then you need to sign up as a tourist. On the other hand, if you have a spiritual desire to deepen your relationship with God by traveling to a specific destination of religious significance, and if you can embrace all the hassles of travel as part of your prayer, then you can call yourself a pilgrim. Down through the centuries, pilgrims have found that spiritual insights came to them “on the difficult path of pilgrimage” just as powerfully as when they finally arrived at the journey’s end.

This distinction might help to understand the scene in today’s Gospel. The word had gotten out about this marvelous traveling teacher from Nazareth and people were flocking to hear him. He was forced to speak from a boat to control the crush of the crowd. Most of the people were tourists. At the moment they were by-standers eager to watch amazing things happen. Perhaps they were not yet ready to transition to being pilgrims. Perhaps that’s why Jesus told those who received cures to keep quiet about it, lest it only attracts more tourists. Some scholars have said that Jesus was asking them to keep the “Messianic Secret” which required a personal commitment of faith.

Perhaps the obvious question is this: concerning our spiritual life, are we tourists or pilgrims? A good test might be to notice if our daily “speed bumps” along the way turn out to be frustrating interruptions or opportunities to remind us of why we’re on the road at all and then recommit to reach our goal.

Reflection by Fr. Daniel Petsche, OSB