Gay Pride Pilgrimage

Gay Pride Pilgrimage

03/11/2025

Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus said to his disciples: "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his  right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?' And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.'

A notable feature of older Catholic cultures conspicuously absent in modern American society is the pilgrimage. Of course we have parades: like on Thanksgiving Day, or when a team wins the Superbowl or even gay pride parades, to celebrate secular values. But we Americans do not have the habit of making pilgrimages, that is, forming a group of people who walk, pray, and sing from one place and usually their destination is a church or religious shrine.

This contrast, or better clash, of cultures becomes evident, even comical, every year when we do our Guadalupe pilgrimage. We walk from Fort Smith Park, close to the Midland bridge to Van Buren, to I.C. Church, about 5 miles distance. Usually the pilgrimage group consists of 200 to 300 participants.

We walk while praying the rosary, singing hymns using loud speakers, and even a booming drum providing a pounding rhythm for Aztec dancers. People stand in doorways and small children gape in wide-eyed amazement maybe even shock at the spectacle, not sure what to make of it.

Most people probably think it is a protest of immigration laws. The truth is, surprisingly, a pilgrimage is actually in support of immigration laws, that is, we pray for merciful laws to emigrate from this world to what Hamlet called “the undiscovered country”, namely, heaven, our true homeland, and (literally) our Fatherland, where God our Father lives and reigns.

In other words, the underlying purpose and point of a pilgrimage is to recognize we are all immigrants in a foreign land, as Heb 11:13 puts it, “strangers and sojourners.” But when, by contrast, a culture or country cannot conceive of producing a pilgrimage (and only has parades) it begins to think we don’t need to journey anywhere else. Why?

Because we are already home. We have created heaven on earth. Hamlet’s “undiscovered country” is simply my backyard, the wide horizon of the untamed West. And so we have parades rather than pilgrimages to celebrate our blessings instead of looking forward to the next life. Maybe that is why we can have a gay pride parade, but you never heard of a gay pride pilgrimage.

In fact, every time we fill out the city permit to have a pilgrimage, do you know what form we fill out? It is called “a parade permit.” But for Christians parades are for Paradise, pilgrimages are for earth, where we are all immigrants, strangers and sojourners in a foreign land. Or are we?

In this morning’s gospel we hear the third section of Matthew 25, one of my favorite chapters of the first gospel. The first section vv 1-13 is the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. The second section vv. 14-30 describes the parable of the talents. And the third part vv 31-46 is the judgment of the nations.

And in a sense all three sections and parables are reminders that earthly life is a pilgrimage on our way to “the undiscovered country” of heaven. In other words, they are about what happens when we get to the end of our earthly sojourn. Life, in other words, is a pilgrimage, not a parade.

By the way, have you noticed how we Catholics undertake a mini-pilgrimage every time we come to Mass? The older design of churches featured a long nave that begins with the baptismal font at the doors (symbolizing birth), proceeds up the central aisle (the journey of life) to the altar (symbol of sacrifice and death), and finally to the tabernacle, surely symbolizing where Jesus resides and reigns in heaven.

Indeed, as dear Ed Winkleman often reminds me, this mini-morning pilgrimage actually begins at each of your homes when you get out of bed and drive your cars to church, to Mass, to heaven. Every celebration of the Eucharist is an unconscious reenactment of a pilgrimage, a liturgical reminder that we are all in favor of merciful immigration laws. Why? Because we are all immigrants hoping to move to a better country. Or are we?

Praised be Jesus Christ!