"The journey is not long..."

*Here is a little fruit from our monthly retreat we had yesterday (19 Sept).

Il cammino non e’ lungo se si ama la persona che si va a trovare. – Proverbio africano

                My journey is not long, burdensome, or impossible as long as I focus on the love I have for You who I am walking towards. Although there may be fog between the end of the dock and your face, with my eyes fixed on You, the fog will not discourage my continual steps. When You beckon me forward into the fog, I will go because all I see is You. In fact, with an increasing love for You, the knowledge that You are my end – that You are what I am heading towards – will fend off all fear or temptations to ignore or set aside the crosses along the way. If I see all things as a gift from You, as a means to draw closer to Your Heart, what “bad” can I receive? Of what can I be afraid? From what can I run or hide? With what strength can I resist that which leads me to Your Holy Face? No, this journey is not long if my goal is love.

                But if it is not love. If my goal is personal perfection in a warped attempt to be worthy of the Richness that is You. If I focus less on You and more on myself. If I rely not on You but on me. Then, Your Face is no longer visible behind the thickening fog which encompasses me and closes me in. Then, I am overwhelmed with discouragement and fear overtakes my trust. I am paralyzed. I do not move. I no longer see my journey as such but convince myself that I have only one fleeting moment in which to fulfil my every worldly desire. I fail. I, in self-dependence, fall into despair and see my journey as too “long” to go on.

                The choice is mine. You place it before me. Your gentle call is not forceful or demanding. It is steady and tender. It is given with a smile and a welcoming gaze. “Come my child. Be not afraid.” You know my every weakness and temptation. You know which part of my journey will be more hesitant and which will be more sure. But call me forward continually You do. In the lighter steps you are there to join in on the laughter and joy, and when my feet are heaviest You urge me on in quiet confidence. “Look at Me. Trust Me. Choose Me.” You are never discouraged by my missteps or the times I refuse to give my “yes”. Instead, You remain ever Faithful and True, there to pick up the pieces of my own guilt and discouragement for succumbing once again to the frailties of the flesh.

Yes, there is really only one choice in this life and from it stems all the rest. But this choice is not just made once. It must be made constantly – each day, each moment. It is a choice that I cannot cease to keep before me. In fact, it is a choice that is always before me. In each action, word, thought, and deed I am either choosing You or that which is not You. I am choosing Love or something less than Love. It is that simple. My journey can either be a string of yes’s or a pile of no’s. And when I find myself getting piled up amidst the thickening fog, I will hear Your Voice, meet Your Eyes, and tie a knot in my string with a yes. A yes to continue, to persevere, to make this journey. For it is not long when I love Who it is that I am going to find.

The journey is not long if you love the person you are going to find. – African Proverb