Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year A
May 18, 2014
Church of Saint Ignatius Loyola, Chestnut Hill MA
Joseph M. O’Keefe, S.J.
There is a religious song that has gained a lot of popularity these days. It is
entitled The Servant Song. One of the verses goes like this: “We are pilgrims on the
journey, we are travelers on the road, we are here to help each other walk the mile
and bear the load.”
We are pilgrims on the journey. Isn’t it true that we think about life through
metaphors, and central among these metaphors is the metaphor of the journey,
spun out in expressions like “I took a wrong turn somewhere,” “She’s come a long
way,” “We have a rough road ahead.” And, of course, the movement of pilgrimage is
emblematic of the movement of life. The 2010 film The Way starring Martin Sheen
shed a light on the Camino de Santiago, perhaps the most famous pilgrimage. And
pilgrimages are not unique to Santiago. There is the Camino Ignaciano, taking the
journey from Loyola to Pamplona to Montserrat to Manresa to Rome. And the
phenomenon of pilgrimage is not limited to Western Europe – Moslems and Hindus
share this practice. And a pilgrimage need not be a literal geographic trek. Most of
us, most of the time, are pilgrims in place, each on our individual journey. But, we
are on our individual journey together. On Nov 21 this year we will celebrate the
50th anniversary of the promulgation of Lumen Gentium, Vatican II’s Dogmatic
Constitution on the Church, in which we are told that all of us are part of a Pilgrim
Church, reflecting and built upon the past, and moving forward toward the end for
which we are all created, union with God. And this brings the gift of humility – we
haven’t arrived, we are incomplete, unfinished, on the journey. And at times the
road may be steep, or rocky, or twisting. But, we move forward in faith together.
We are travelers on the road. The Greek word for “road” is ὁδὸς. And in
John chapter 14 verse 6, we find Jesus telling his disciples, Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς, “I am the
road,” or, in the translation we just read, “I am the way.” The first followers of Jesus
were not known not as Christians, but as those who follow the way, ἡ ὁδὸς. At this
time of year, some among us are experiencing weddings, graduations and first
communions, important milestones along the road, opportunities to look back with
gratitude, to “collect the graces” as St., Ignatius recommends in the Exercises, and to
look to the horizon that lies ahead. Whether or not we are at one of life’s milestones
these day, we all face the future, the next phase of our life. It is important that we
take a rest stop, pray for the gift of discernment, and ask ourselves, “Which road will
I follow? Which way will I go? What will be my compass? What will be my guiding
light? What will be my North Star?” Jesus asks us, as He did the disciples, to make his
way our way, his road our road. Let us set our course accordingly. Or, for each of us
to echo expressions dear to evangelicals, “to make Jesus my personal savior, to make
Jesus the Lord of my life.”
Father Pedro Arrupe described the decision to place ourselves under the
banner of Christ, to make Jesus our guiding light, our North Star. He wrote:
What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect
everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what
you do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read,
whom you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and
gratitude. Fall in Love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.
When we are looking for meaning and purpose, let’s remember Jesus’s words, “I am
the way, the truth, and the life,” and that will decide everything.
And let us remember the words of Jesus, “I go to prepare a place for you.” My
friends, when we open our heart and our mind to the gift of faith, we know that,
when we get to our destination, Jesus will be there, having prepared that place for
us.
We are travelers on the road. But we don’t travel that road alone. We are
here to help each other walk the mile and bear the load. As we leave one phase of
our journey and move on to the next, we need to be grateful for those who have
walked the mile with us. To be grateful for those who gave us life: our parents, our
grandparents, those who are still with us and those that watch over us from the next
life. To be grateful for those who have made us the persons we are today: our
siblings, other family members, neighbors, teachers, and mentors. To be grateful for
our friends. We may not be wealthy in the things of this world. But no one is richer
than a person with faithful and loving friends. As we look back and ahead, let’s
remember the words of François Mauriac, "We are all molded and remolded by
those who have loved us and though that love may pass, we remain, none the less,
their work. No love, no friendship can ever cross the path of our destiny without
leaving some mark upon it forever."
Someone once gave me wise advice: “Don’t be afraid to entrust an unknown
future to a known God.” None of us has a crystal ball. None of us knows for sure
what tomorrow will bring, or what life will present to us in the months and years
ahead. None of us knows the date and time and circumstance of our death. But
what we do know is this: In this life and in the next, in weal and in woe, in good
times and in bad, in sickness and in health, the Risen Lord is with us, with the one
who is the road, the way, the truth, and the life.