Jubilee Year – Pilgrims of Hope – 4th Sunday of Lent – Sermon by Father Levine

Fr. Joseph Levine; Holy Family Catholic Church and Missions, Burns, Oregon; March 30, 2025

The theme for the Jubilee Year is “Pilgrims of Hope”; a beautiful and deeply Christian theme. As Christians we are pilgrims, traveling through this world to the heavenly kingdom.

St. Paul wrote of the Patriarchs of the Old Testament, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, praising their faith, as an example for us, These all died in faith, not having received what was promised, but having seen it and greeted it from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that from which they had gone out, they would have had an opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. (He 11:13-16)

Every pilgrimage to a holy place on this earth is a living symbol of the pilgrimage of the whole life; every destination represents Jerusalem, the original holy city, and the earthly symbol of the new and eternal Jerusalem, the supreme goal of our pilgrimage.

Jesus brought his own earthly pilgrimage to a conclusion in Jerusalem. He entered, hailed as a king; there he was crucified and rose again from the dead, and he took his leave from there to ascend into heaven, to where he was before.

St. Thomas Aquinas wrote of Jesus’ death in Jerusalem:

“And why Jerusalem? … The first reason … is that God’s temple was there, where the sacrifices were made. Now, the sacrifices of the old law were figures of this sacrifice, which was made on the altar of the cross; therefore he willed that where the figures were, the truth should stand open. Christ also loved us, and has delivered himself for us, an oblation and sacrifice to God, for an odour of sweetness (Eph 5:2). Another reason is that the prophets suffered in Jerusalem … Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you. (Mt 23:37) Therefore he willed to suffer there to show that their death was a sign of Christ’s passion. Also Jerusalem means ‘vision of peace’; but the passion itself was peace-making. And through him to reconcile all things unto himself, making peace through the blood of his cross, both as to the things that are on earth, and the things that are in heaven. (Col 1:20) But that Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is our mother. (Gal 4:26)  (Commentary on Matthew, Ch.16, L.3, 1398)

Through his Ascension, Christ lifted the city of Jerusalem up to its supreme significance

For the Jubilee Year our Diocese is conducting a “reverse” Eucharistic pilgrimage in which the Blessed Sacrament is being carried by car from the Cathedral to all the parishes in the diocese. This pilgrimage highlights a certain truth: The heavenly Jerusalem is present on this earth wherever Mass is celebrated and the Blessed Sacrament is reserved in the tabernacle. For the heavenly Jerusalem is the throne of God and of the Lamb (Rev 22:3), where the Lord God almighty is [himself] the temple and the Lamb. (Rev 21:22)

And we are to be pilgrims of “hope”. Hope for God’s mercy; mercy in the forgiveness of sins by which we enter upon the pilgrim way; mercy in the gift of grace that enables us to travel upon the pilgrim way; mercy in the grace of perseverance by which we reach the goal of salvation. Jesus, our hope and salvation, is himself the way, the truth, and the life, by which we go to the Father. (Jn 14:6)

Today, we heard the parable of the prodigal son, the great Gospel of God’s mercy. The son underwent a conversion in his heart, then made his pilgrim way to the father’s house, where he was welcomed and restored to the full dignity of being a son.

If we want to understand better our pilgrimage of hope and its goal, we would do well to reflect on why the prodigal son left the father’s house in the first place and why, in the end, his older brother did not want to join the celebration.

The prodigal son asked for his share of the inheritance. He views his inheritance as an earthly inheritance that is divisible and that awaits the death of the father. Yes, a sinful man will desire the death of his father so that he can receive his inheritance, while brothers will fight over the division of the inheritance. The Gospels recount an occasion in which a man comes to Jesus and asks, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. (Lk 12:13) Jesus refuses to enter into the dispute, but gives the crowd a warning against greed. (cf Lk 12:14-21) He then goes on to teach about reliance on God’s providence and seeking first his kingdom. (cf. Lk 12:22-40)

An earthly inheritance is divisible, but it is better to belong to the family than to have a material inheritance from the family. The inheritance of faith, hope, and charity received in a Catholic family is greater than any worldly wealth.

Indeed, if we rightly understand the parable, then the inheritance is not at all a worldly inheritance, but a divine and heavenly inheritance. Indeed, God himself is our inheritance. The Psalmist recognizes this when he sings, The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup: it is thou that wilt restore my inheritance to me. (Ps 16[15]:5) And St. Paul, The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Rm 8:16-17)

The younger brother, when he asks for his share of the inheritance fails to understand the nature of the inheritance. He seeks an earthly inheritance, capable of being divided, and which is diminished in the dividing, over the good of belonging to God and indeed of possessing God himself. By taking the inheritance as a portion that he can have as his own, apart from others, he squanders the inheritance. He exchanged an eternal inheritance for an earthly one, just as Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. (cf. Gen 25:29-34; He 12:16-17)

The older brother, however, does not have any better understanding of the true inheritance. He does not value being a son in the father’s house, he does not value being a son of God. The father says to him, everything I have is yours, just as in the Holy Trinity, everything that the Father has belongs to the Son, without any division or loss. (cf. Jn 61:15) Nevertheless, that does not matter to older son, because he has it as belonging first to his father, not as his very own. Rather, he wants the goat – a symbol of sin – that he can enjoy by himself, with his peers, without being subject to the rule of his father.

St. Francis of Assisi, when he was converted, understood the lesson, but his earthly father did not. St. Francis, counting what belonged to his father as his own, his inheritance, sold a bolt of his father’s cloth to give the money to the poor, doing a good deed on behalf of his father. His father, however, did not appreciate the good deed and was enraged and demanded the money back. He received his money, but he further demanded that his son renounce his inheritance. In the presence of the Bishop, St. Francis gladly renounced his earthly inheritance, even to the clothes he was wearing. From that moment he lived with God as his Father, and discovered that in by possessing nothing but God, the Lord of all, he possessed all things. (cf. 2 Cor 6:10)

God, the Father, who is rich in mercy, (cf. Eph 2:4) bestows his gifts in abundance upon all creation, making his sun to rise on the evil and the good (Mt 5:45), but he bestows his very self on those who believe in him, love him, seek his kingdom, share his work and do his will. He bestows his very self on those have become like him in generosity.

This is an inheritance that is not diminished for sharing but multiplied by the number of sharers. To share in this inheritance, we must rejoice to be children of our heavenly Father and we must rejoice to share in the sacrifice of the fatted calf, the Holy Eucharist, Jesus Christ, in whom is found the whole good of the Father’s house. The divine inheritance, which we are given to share already upon earth is the goal of our hope, the goal of our pilgrimage, the true Jerusalem.