It’s interesting to watch people navigate their way through landscapes, particularly those with designed pathways. We seem to naturally take the short cut and chose the path of least resistance.
You see it all the time: a well-worn dirt path adjacent to a beautiful section of pavement, particularly around corners. I recently observed a school staircase which was closed for repairs; the students naturally found the next best thing to get to their classes, which involved a short walk through the garden bed instead of taking the extra three minutes to walk around the building.
In our expediency to move from point A to point B we can both trample beauty and miss the opportunity to be led at a different pace.
SURPRISE OF LABYRINTHS
I’ve always enjoyed the surprise of labyrinths, as they slowly lead me towards the centre and then suddenly I find myself thrust outwards to the edge. Unlike a maze, I am in no hurry to complete my journey or to be tempted to cognitively solve anything. I’m simply moving step by step along a pathway that I trust will lead me into a sacred space. In this pilgrimage of the heart there are no short cuts. I have learned to accept that it takes time for my body to slow down long enough for my soul to catch up.
It’s good to have a companion on the interior journey. Spiritual direction offers me a chance to make an inward pilgrimage, accompanied by a trusted guide who helps me navigate the inner most being of myself. It can be a challenging process, and I’m often tempted to take the path of least resistance, to write mental lists of things to discuss and keep the conversation cerebral and superficial. That’s a form of performance, where I remain in control and pre-plot a path to the destination. But the road that leads to my heart is far more unpredictable and less taken. Allowing myself to be spirit-led has made all the difference.
Weightlifting has much to teach about the spiritual journey. The saying ‘no pain, no gain’ points to the fact that each time a weight is lifted, the muscles are slightly torn. Weightlifters must allow their body to rest and to be nourished with proteins to allow the rebuilding of fibres, resulting in a transformed muscle. Without the appropriate weight resistance there is no gain in strength. Likewise, there are no shortcuts to growth in the spiritual life.
My faith experience points to the need for regular ‘resistance training’ in prayer, service and the sacraments. It’s easy to skip over these parts of my life because they demand something of my time, attention and presence.
SPIRITUAL ENDURANCE TRAINING
Pilgrimage teaches us that good things often take time to eventuate and that there is something far greater waiting beyond the horizon. This spiritual endurance training was noted by St Paul towards the end of his life: ‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.’
The faith that Paul describes is ‘the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen’ (Hebrews 11:1). When travelling to new places I try to avoid looking at tourist photos beforehand, so I don’t suffer from the false hope of anticipating the experience. When my family visited the Grand Canyon we had bad weather and all we saw was a vast cloud and snow that engulfed the entire view. On reflection, I had hoped for something far different to what I received and yet, there was beauty, wonder and awe in the unexpected.
As the Kingdom of God unfurls before me, I savour each step into the unknown.
When we set out on a journey of the heart, we meet the resistance of fear, doubt and anxiety. Maintaining hope is difficult. It’s tempting to simply give up, go with the flow and let life take us where it will.
ACCEPTANCE
Julian of Norwich teaches the great spiritual strength in accepting ‘All will be well, and all manner of things will be well’, but this is not an abdication of free will. It speaks to trust in the Lord and moving forward with hope in adversity.
Describing a period of spiritual desolation, Saint Teresa of Calcutta wrote, ‘the place of God in my soul is blank – there is no God in me’. Even though she faced many years of personal turmoil, Teresa still believed that ‘we want to create hope for the person . . . we must give hope, always hope’.
Young people are our pilgrims of hope. They pave the way for renewal and are the new wine that requires new wine skins, or they risk bursting through former ways of being Church.
Young people also need companions to help navigate the paths of resistance along the road less chosen. We read in Isaiah 40:31 that their strength (and ours) will be renewed by their hope in the Lord and ‘they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint’.
