Homeward Bound

Last night I attended my last mass for this pilgrimage in Europe, again at Notre Dame.  My sense was that the mass was largely attended by visitors and not regular attendees.  On this journey I have heard mass in French, Polish, Basque, and Catalan.  That is what has been available.  Regardless of the language it is the encounter with Christ in the Eucharist that matter the most.  Be the church gorgeous (like Notre Dame or La Sagrada Familia) or simple (like Mauleon-Licharre).  

I think this realization underscored a point made in this morning's office that our journey is ultimately not in this world but through it to eternal life, where there will be a new heaven and a new earth and the Lord will wipe every tear away.  So, while I travel by foot, train plane and  car back to my home, I travel with a hope in one day joining the communion of Saints praising God in the heavenly homeland.

P.S.  I wrote all of these posts from my phone on the road which has very limited capabilities.  Now back in the states I went back and cleaned up my spelling and fixed the images.  I hope you have enjoyed these reflections from the Camino.

La Sagrada Familia - The Holy Family

We arrived in Barcelona late Wednesday night.  The main reason to finish this Journey in Barcelona is to visit the Basilica of the Holy Family.  A church whose construction is completely financed by alms given for its construction,  as a communal form of penance and offering.  Construction was begun in March of 1882, and is planned to be complete by 2034, with major construction ending next year.  It's really neat to see a modern cathedral nearing completion after over 100 years of work.

I came here to pray for my family, and the families that I minister to, work with or otherwise interact with.  That they may all become holy families reflecting the love and creativity of God.  I had the chance to visit the church yesterday.  It is definitely a unique structure, looking more like a mountain than a cathedral.  The basilica covers an entire city block and has many towers that reach up to over 500 feet tall.  The main spire is dedicated to Christ, the light of the world, with other spires to the Blessed Mother, the 4 evangelists etc.  We arrived on a Thursday morning and the surrounding blocks were packed with people who had all come to see the church.  The architect who designed the church made the north facade tell the story of Christ's nativity and the south side His crucifixion.  The entire building is like a 3 dimensional icon of the scriptures in stone, with pieces here and there to lead one into meditation on scripture and the life of Christ.

Families are places where God's grace can be poured out into the world.  Like it or not we are stuck with our families, for all there good and bad traits.  I think that God allows this so that we learn to love and share one another.

As a father, it is part of my role to encourage the good and correct the bad.  I have to do this first in myself and then with my children.  To do this well I go back to my role as a father of baptized children and ask myself - am I keeping the commandments as Christ taught by loving God and neighbor?  Where do I fall short?  Where do I need God's grace alive in my family?

One of the most important ways of setting the example is recognizing when I have done wrong - and asking for forgiveness.  This requires humility and patience.  The other is to insist that my kids learn to forgive one another, as sibling relationships are precious.

Mary and St Joseph,

Let your Son's grace flow abundantly into each family that I interact with.  Use me as a servant for that grace that they might reflect the fullness of your love.  

Amen

There is only one road

"He used often to say there was only one Road; that it was like a great river: its springs were at every doorstep, and every path was its tributary. 'It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,' he used to say. 'You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to." J.R.R Tolkien

One of my all-time favorite stories is the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings.  I first read the books when I was 13 and going to high school in Yorkshire, England.  I would walk home from the school bus stop after dark, in the rain and then curling up to read in the evenings, imagining the world of Middle Earth.  The Road motif that Tolkien uses (as expressed by Bilbo in the above quote) is the blending of life with the presence and the will of God.  In this sense Tolkien echoes St Paul who says there is "one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God who is Father of all."  (Eph 4:5-6)

Having spending the past 9 days on "the Road", first at Lourdes and then walking the Camino to Saint Jean Pied de Port, I have come back to the metaphor that the journey that we take in life is like a Camino.  The Lord invites us to walk with Him, but He allows us to walk alone if we choose to.  One of the spiritual disciplines that we need is that of detachment, that I am detached from particular outcomes and open to where the Lord needs me to be or to whom the Lord needs me to be present to. This is part of the adventure of life.  We have some idea of where we are going, but we are not God, we do not control everything and so we need to be docile to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.  From day to day we did not know the specifics of the path that we would take, who we would meet or where we would lay our heads that night,.  We might lose our way, be given a shortcut, meet an atheist, a devout Christian or some fellow pilgrims.  We might climb hills in the heat, or cold or rain.  We might sleep in a bright, cheery place or a poorly maintained farmhouse.  At the end of the day, God would provide and His provision would be enough.  When morning comes on the morrow, we again shoulder the burden of our packs and walk further along the way.

The same is true in the everyday rhythms of life.  Raising children, working a career, serving in a ministry are all invitations from God to us to encounter His love, in the people we meet, the struggles we endure and the places we visit.  All of these help to form us for the next stage of the journey.  This is where the discipline of a life of prayer helps us to keep our eyes focused on God's plan for us, and makes it easier to accept the difficulties we find along the way - be they people, places or limitations within ourselves.

Lord, I ask for the grace that I may make you ever more my constant companion as I journey down the road, with you to all whom we encounter.  Shape me through the experiences of my life as we take this journey today together to be your servant and an instrument of your love to others.  Amen