There, and Back Again
Tolkien’s character, Bilbo Baggins, lived it, albeit grudgingly
at times. In the world of storytelling,
even the imagined struggle with maintaining that sense of adventure once the
quest is accomplished.
Michelle and I just returned, “just” meaning about
1:00 AM this morning, from a two-week pilgrimage to the land of Divine Mercy –
Poland and Lithuania. Every day was a barrage
on our spiritual senses.
Some of those places we visited spoke specifically to
this point. One morning our group
visited the church where St. Pope John Paul II was baptized. On the bus ride there that morning, in
anticipation, I was telling a fellow pilgrim that the first baby I baptized after
my own ordination 16 years ago was in the same baptismal font I was baptized in
51 years prior. God is a master
storyteller!
As can be the case with such pilgrimages, it can get a
bit hectic depending on how well the bus ride goes and how many other groups
are visiting the same day. In this case,
we were hurried into the church for Mass.
I didn’t have much time to take in the space before Father and I had to
vest and begin. But then, when it came
time for the first reading, I took my seat.
I looked across the sanctuary and noticed that it was open to the side
chapel on the far side of the church where the baptismal font where JP II began
his own spiritual journey stood. They
had a large picture of the Pope when he visited the site after his selection as
pope, kneeling, with his left arm raised so he could touch his hand to the
font. His face reflected that gift that
he had of going to a deep place within himself to be with God. I could see that he was thankful for the way
that the gift of faith had blossomed in his life. He remembered where the journey started, and
he knew the path forward that he was called to.
When we have a tangible connection with God, there are
several directions our life can go. The
biggest risk is that we focus too much on the emotions of the moment. Then we try several times, maybe many times,
to recapture that inner euphoria. Then
we discover, to our disappointment, that God visits most often in the ordinary,
we can feel that He has abandoned us when we insist that it be in the extraordinary.
Whenever I have the opportunity to serve as deacon of
the Mass, I always visit Jesus in the tabernacle and pray: “Thank you for the
gift of serving today. Please be with Father
and I as we lead your people in prayer; help me to proclaim your Gospel boldly,
to preach on it effectively, and help us all Lord, especially me, to live it
more faithfully.”
The risk is that if we cling to the golden moments,
they can tarnish and fade. Then, we
forget as life in the present moment overwhelms us daily. The challenge for all of us, in our love with
God, and even our love for the people in our lives, is to treat those moments
of special encounter as seeds, not flowers.
Flowers, even beautiful flowers fade; seeds continue to grow and bud and
blossom again and again and again.
So, I am grateful for all the special moments during
these past two weeks. I pray that each
of them changes something about how I love God and those who I encounter in
life so that it is more life giving for all.
His Peace <><
Deacon Dan
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