Zechariah 8:20-23 / Luke 9:51-56
One of the popular pilgrimages that is available is a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
For some Christians, it is their hope to go to the Holy Land at least once in their lifetime, so as to visit the land that Jesus Christ, the God-who-became-man, set foot on, and to experience the history and mystery of the land that God had blessed and given to Abraham and his descendants.
Certainly, if we go to the Holy Land and when we can resist spending our time and energy taking too many photos and buying too many souvenirs, then we would be able to have a spiritual experience.
As the 1st reading puts it, many peoples and great nations will come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favour of the Lord.
It continues by saying that ten men from every language will take a Jew by the sleeve and say, "We want to go with you (to Jerusalem) since we have learnt that God is with you."
Yes Jerusalem is a city blessed by God and to go there for a pilgrimage is to entreat the favour of the Lord and invoke His blessings.
But what Jerusalem is in the Old Testament, the Church is in the New Testament. The Church is also the place to seek the Lord of hosts and to entreat the favour of the Lord and to seek His blessings.
If the 1st reading says that ten men from every language will take a Jew by the sleeve and want to follow him to Jerusalem, then has anyone ever asked us to bring them to Church because they want to seek Jesus and ask for His blessings?
But if no one ever asked us, could it be because we never shared with them about why we go to Church and what we do there and how we have experienced God's blessings?
Let us be like those messengers in gospel that Jesus sent. The Church is also the dwelling place of God and a place to entreat the favour of the Lord. But we have to tell others about it and bring them to Church for them to experience the blessings of the Lord.