We are all pilgrims of life. We walk our daily paths, doing our jobs, having a bit of fun, taking on challenges. We don’t walk alone. We choose a few companions. We also rub shoulders with colleagues, strangers, people who are more or less like us, with whom we get on more or less well. We’re obliged to walk together. But do we know where we’re going?
So many people in our world are forced to go where they don’t really want to go. Refugees today number in the millions, forced into exile for political, economic, social or ethnic reasons. They wander, looking for a place to stop, pitch a tent and find work.
Joseph and Mary set off for Bethlehem for legal reasons: they had to go there in obedience to the Roman emperor, who demanded that everyone be registered in their home town. So many people complied with the emperor’s whims that, when Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem, they discovered that the village was overcrowded. The young couple looked a lot like today’s refugees.
Yet their hearts overflowed with hope. They knew that the child Mary was carrying in her womb would transform the world, bringing unhoped-for light, warmth and love.
Jesus himself took to the road when he chose to go to every village and town in Palestine to proclaim the Good News of a saving God who is close to the little ones and the humble. He wanted to sow this hope in all hearts, so that as they walked, people would also feel like singing, conversing, helping and encouraging each other.
For Catholics the world over, 2025 will be a Jubilee Year. We’ll be living it to the rhythm of the theme chosen by Pope Francis: “Pilgrims of Hope”. Like Joseph and Mary, let us not be afraid to take up the path of life each day that is given to us. Let us journey with those we love… and all those we don’t love enough. Let’s nourish the hope that abides in our hearts and radiate hope for the whole world.
We are indeed pilgrims of life. Let us also be pilgrims of hope!
Paul-André Durocher
Archbishop of Gatineau