We are occasionally reminded that life is a journey. In sober circles it is referred to as “Trudging the Road of Happy Destiny”. We regard our recovery as a continual process leading all the way to our death, with the hope that we will reach whatever afterlife we believe in. In our case, it is Heaven, an eternal union with God and His Truth and Beauty. Oh, and our loved ones are there, too!
From a homily on the Gospels by Saint Gregory the Great, pope, and this is excerpted from the Second Reading in the Office of Readings for the Fourth Sunday of Easter: “Beloved brothers, let us set out for these pastures where we shall keep joyful festival with so many of our fellow citizens. May the thought of their happiness urge us on! Let us stir up our hearts, rekindle our faith, and long eagerly for what heaven has in store for us. To love thus is to be already on our way. No matter what obstacles we encounter, we must not allow them to turn us aside from the joy of that heavenly feast. Anyone who is determined to reach his destination is not deterred by the roughness of the road that leads to it. Nor must we allow the charm of success to seduce us, or we shall be like a foolish traveller who is so distracted by the pleasant meadows through which he is passing that he forgets where he is going.”
(Via Universalis.)
Pope Gregory the Great exhorts us to not be scared off by the difficulty of our journey. We must persevere, for the rewards are most definitely worth it. Too often we struggle and stumble along the way, misdirected by the weakness of our flesh with the promise of fleeting pleasure and joy. We discover too late the emptiness of that pleasure. We repent and return to the Lord. We resume our journey, hopefully learning from our fall.
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