"As Jesus was setting out on a journey a
man ran up to him and knelt before him and asked… Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit
eternal life?" Mk 10:17
Three years ago I completed my first
pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago. There
is a tradition on the Camino that on the last hill, just before Santiago comes
into view, the Pilgrims run up the hill in order to be the first in their group
to see the city and its cathedral spire. I was walking with a group of three or four
women. Having just completed a 500 mile
trek the thought of running up anything gave all of us pause. The angst was compounded by the fact that no
one knew just exactly which hill was the last hill.
On the last day, immediately after a
pretty hefty lunch, we came to what we believed was the last hill. And so I began to run, slowly for sure, up
the hill. Lots of comments erupted from
other pilgrims. What the heck is she
doing? They called out encouragement - sprinkled
with laughter from the bottom. I got to
the top, raised my arms and shouted Santiago!!
Slowly my friends made it to the top to join me. What did they say? Not “Wow great run!!” But….. They reminded me the first shall be
last and the last shall be first. Popped
my bubble pretty quickly. The Camino de
Santiago is not about winning and humility is doled out in daily doses.
It is said that whoever walks the Camino
will find answers to their questions.
The problem for many is that we go out to walk the Camino without
knowing what our question is? And if we
do have a question in mind we often go into the pilgrimage with a pre-conceived
notion of what the answer will be.
As I set out from St Jean Pied de Port I
had no clear notion of what answers I might find or what questions I should
ask. I definitely had a pre-conceived
notion of what I should find on my Camino.
I was out to discern how my life might play out in the coming years as I
got older and began to contemplate such weighty matters as being a grandmother,
maintaining my health so that retirement years would be fruitful, how best to ensure
that I would be able to care for myself and not be a burden on my children,
perhaps trying to prove that I was physically capable of doing the trek at
all…. Well no such profound insight came
to me on that journey. In fact I had a
great deal of trouble getting myself to even consider such weighty matters as I
walked. Instead I found myself obsessed
with sunflowers, the labels on cans, toenails, bathtubs, internet access, and
with learning the Spanish word for fig – which is higo by the way.
What I came to understand, although a
hazy awareness even now, is that pilgrimage is not about heading out with a
question and finding an answer.
Pilgrimage is about being present to that particular moment in time and
place and about perceiving the nature of God through the relationships that are
honed on the way. In my quest to prove
my physical stamina, to be the first to the top of the hill, or to be the most
prepared for any situation, I often could not see the forest for the trees so
to speak. Other pilgrims occasionally
admonished me… “You are walking too fast
– you will miss the signs along the Way”
It only takes one time of missing the signs and walking a couple of
kilometers the wrong way to make one see the wisdom of that advice. No matter how clear the signs are, no matter
how numerous the signs are.. If you do
not slow down enough to take notice, if you do not listen to the voices of
others who have walked the road before, if you do not stop, look, listen and
then follow - you will surely head off in the wrong direction.
In this story of the rich young man, Mark
tells us that the first thing on Jesus’ mind is not to answer the question, but
rather to simply be totally present to this pilgrim with profound love. I think there is a sadness in Jesus’ voice
when he realizes that all of those “things” that this man holds in high esteem
– his wealth, his material possessions, his status in society – these are the
things that are blocking his spirit entering into the Kingdom of God.
Arriving in Santiago all I had left was
tears. Tears of regret for the times I
was immersed in my own self and missed God’s presence, tears of sadness that
those times of quiet on the road were behind me, tears of fear that the road
ahead might be too much to bear, tears of gratitude for that moment in time
when I had nothing to do but to give my life to the journey. I met many other pilgrims on the road from
dozens of countries – some whose names I remember some whose names I never
knew. But each encounter revealed
something of God’s Kingdom, each encounter enriched my soul in ways that I have
yet to understand. One does not have to
travel around the world to experience that truth.
I want to invite you to go with me on a
pilgrimage through prayer this fall. It
will be a pilgrimage to discover what it is that draws us close to God. Draw a line down the middle of a page. On one side write "Pushes God away"
and on the other side write "Draws me close to God" Now think back
over the past week. Think about your
activities, think about what you bought, think about what you did not do, think
about your responses to people you met, to events, to yourself. Were they angry or manipulative or were they
responses marked by compassion, care,
respect, and love? Think about how you
used your gifts, your time, your possessions.
Mark these things down on one side or the other - on whichever side you
feel they belong. As this next week goes
by do some mental assessment of the value of these things in God's time. How do these things draw you closer to God's
loving embrace or how do they push you farther and farther away?
It’s stewardship time at St Patrick’s - the time when each of us is
asked to take a look at how we support the ministry of our faith
community. As you consider your pledge
to St Patrick’s please consider all of the ways God enters into your life
through the life of our parish and then prayerfully decide how you might make a
sacrificial commitment to support the work of your church. Jesus is telling us that we need to find what
it is in us that's a stumbling block--a detriment--to our living as children of
God, and then to pray about it, to turn to God for the strength to face whatever
that thing might be, and then with God's help to do something about it. We need to do this as individuals, and we
need to do this as a faith community. It
takes prayer, honesty, and a serious decision to want to live as a people of
God.
But be forewarned - considering the implications of our actions in this
way might really turn our lives upside down.
Jesus is calling us to get rid of the stumbling blocks that infect our
lives. No doubt about that! And he lets us know that it's not easy to get
rid of them, and that deciding to try sometimes leads to the Cross. But he also promises us that if we follow
Him, the reward is many times greater than what we've been clinging to. And - this is the real kicker - Jesus
promises us that God will be the
power behind us in this journey.
