“Mary set out in haste…”

Every year when we encounter this gospel reading on this feast, I’m struck that Mary is on a journey. The excerpt from Luke begins and ends with her traveling – embarking, really, on the greatest adventure in human history. Pope Benedict has described this moment, the Visitation, as the “first Eucharistic procession,” with Mary carrying Christ out into the world in her womb.

As I speak this morning, another remarkable procession is underway, in Poland. It is the annual pilgrimage that hundreds of soldiers make every year from Warsaw to Czestochowa. They walk nearly 200 miles on foot, joined by hundreds of pilgrims, to pay homage to the famous Black Madonna, Our Lady of Czestochowa.

The mysterious icon with the dark skin is so old, one tradition holds that it was painted by St. Luke himself – the author of the gospel we just heard. The Black Madonna has been considered a great protector and patron of soldiers for centuries. And once again, men are marching to offer their prayers and petitions.

This year, five Americans soldiers from the Illinois National Guard are part of that march. I was surprised to read that only one of them is Catholic. The others are taking part, they said, to show solidarity with the European soldiers, and to express appreciation for Poland’s support in Iraq and Afghanistan. They also know they are taking part in a unique tradition, one that has been going on for hundreds of years around the feast of the Assumption.

That march, and this gospel reading today, remind us of something we easily forget: we are all pilgrims. One of the documents of the second Vatican council even described us as “the pilgrim people of God.” We are on a journey, guided by faith, sustained by hope, with the gospel as our guide and the Eucharist to give us strength.

And as this gospel reminds us, another pilgrim on that journey — a trip that transcends time and place — is Mary.

Her earthly pilgrimage took her to places she never imagined. From Nazareth, to Bethlehem, to Cana, to Calvary. Hers was a life like no other in history. And the feast we celebrate this day marks the conclusion of it. It is our way of honoring and remembering how her journey here came to a close. But that wasn’t really the end. Because it continues, in heaven, where she was assumed, body and soul.

In Luke’s gospel, she announced to the world that her soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord. And her soul continues its song, even now. A song of joy, and wonder, and gratitude. A never-ending hymn of hope.

This day, in this parish, we also begin a kind of pilgrimage, a 30 day journey that ends with our parish feast on September 15th — Our Lady of Sorrows, Our Lady Queen of Martyrs. These two feasts could be seen as bookends, one today celebrating the completion of Mary’s mission on earth; the other, next month, honoring all that her mission entailed.

So we ask her on this feast to join us on our own mission, our own pilgrimage through life – to uplift us, to encourage us, to walk with us. This most blessed of all women knows our struggles, our sufferings, our limitations. She lived with them herself. Yes, she was holy. But she was also human.

And, like us, she was in a hurry. In a few minutes, we’ll all be rushing out the door, heading to the subway, getting in the car, going on to our jobs or our homes. But before we do that, we pause. And we pray. We pray for Mary’s companionship and support as we ourselves “set out in haste” to all the places we need to be. We turn our hearts to this woman “full of grace,” imploring her to “pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.”

Because we are a pilgrim people.

And we have so much further to go.