(Editor's Note: The following is from the homily delivered by Father Noel C. Burtenshaw at the pilgrimage to the Church of the Purification in Sharon, GA, on Palm Sunday.)

There are going to be many pilgrimages during the Holy Year. Just about everyone in the travel business who can make the Sign of the Cross will be going to Rome and wanting us to go, too. In the good old horse-and-buggy days, when you needed a lot of guts to travel, along with energy and stamina, a pilgrimage to Rome was a real ordeal. But today along with our rosaries, we would pack a new wardrobe and sun shades. It's really not as sacrificial as it used to be.

But coming here today is another thing altogether. It's one thing to give up ten days to go to Europe -- and who wouldn't -- it's another thing to give up a Sunday afternoon to get on a bus and come to rural Georgia, to Sharon. While we remember with historic hearts that it is the oldest Church in our Archdiocese, it is a real pilgrimage for us to travel here today and a sacrifice for many of us.

But then everything is relative. We came in the best bus that MARTA can provide. We left our homes this afternoon and we will be back early tonight. That's a far cry from what the first Catholic settlers of this historic place endured.

The first record we have of Catholics living in this area was in 1793. They came from Maryland and they settled in Locust Grove, about a mile from here. In fact, a Church was built there and afterwards moved to this town of Sharon.

Sharon became a very active Catholic center, with a thriving parish, parish school and even an academy. A religious order of Sisters was also founded in this locality. They were called the St. Joseph Sisters of Georgia and later merged with the St. Joseph Sisters of Carondelet who still teach in some of our schools.

In those early days of the Church in Georgia before priests were stationed in this area, the faithful would travel to Augusta and Savannah for Mass and instructions. For these early pioneers of the faith, every week was a pilgrimage.

With a good spirit and a pilgrim's heart, we imitate them today.

Palm Sunday is a good day for a pilgrimage. It was the last happy one in the life of our Lord. It was a signal for the overture to start. The stage was now set and this procession of his would light the light that would renew our jaded spirits and reconcile our stranger's hand to the Almighty Father. His death and resurrection was the sacrificial occasion in history when man and God struck the lasting friendship that would never end. We see that plainly in Holy Week, but it all began with the pilgrimage of Palm Sunday.

But the Church wants this whole year to be a pilgrimage. In our walk through this Holy Year, she wants us to focus our eyes most especially on Renewal and Reconciliation. And what does that mean? It means that when this year is past, our pilgrimage through it will leave us different -- and leave others different because of us. It is not a year to merely get postcards from Rome, plastic or jeweled ornaments from the Holy Land or foreign stamps on your passport. It is a year to think more seriously about your Christian proclamation.

The name of Jesus is written on all our foreheads. We have said as loudly as we can that we are different. But unfortunately, we are not believed, because the world is not different.

Southeast Asia is about to fall with a terrific noise and American consciences will have to think that one through. After all our Christianity -- 2000 years in all --- the suffering, the horrors, the killing continues. The message of peace, love, sacrifice, brotherhood that we have known since we could talk is not felt, not known and not practiced. As far as possible in our lives, that must change. That's the message of the Holy Year.

So, if we go no farther than our parish church during this year, but bring about change in our life, in our thinking, in our Christian action, in our family life -- then we have experienced renewal and reconciliation and have made it a reality.

But if this is just another year -- despite worldwide travels -- it has been wasted. A Holy Year is the Church appealing for change in you, because you can make a difference and Christ's action can become alive in you for yourself and for others.