Once a year I usually manage to go on a pilgrimage.
It is often to somewhere like Medjugorje, Lourdes, or another
well-known shrine. In 2011 I made a pilgrimage by motorcycle
across northern Spain and then up through France stopping at various
shrines: over 2000 miles on a Honda NT700 (the one in the picture above). No matter which way
I do it, the time apart to pray always helps me to remember what is
important. Going somewhere different for a time of prayer
always seems to have the same effect; it simplifies things and helps
me to see how much junk I’ve collected since the last time, most of
which is totally unnecessary. Staying in simple hotel rooms, or
religious houses, with little more than a book has a wonderful way of
freeing the mind. Initially I find that I crave for the
distractions that I’m used to, the TV, calling friends, noise of
one kind or another. But after a day or two I begin to settle
into the quiet and I realise how much I need it. I believe that
we need to keep going back to the basics and to remind ourselves of
what is important.
In the second reading from the Acts of the Apostles,
controversy is being stirred up with talk of whether the pagans
should have to follow the Jewish law of being circumcised or not.
The basics of the faith were still being worked out. What is
interesting is the Apostles response. First of all they agree
to discuss the matter further, but they want their brothers and
sisters to be at peace and so they recommend them to keep to the
essentials as they understood them at that time.
We hear that some of our
members have disturbed you with their demands and have unsettled your
minds.
It has been decided by the
Holy Spirit and by ourselves not to saddle you with any burden beyond
these essentials…
There is great wisdom in their decision to keep to the essentials. They didn’t want the people to be burdened
with more than was necessary. This is a common theme that I
hear people express when they come back from pilgrimage. We
are reminded of what is important.
What God calls us to do is very simple: to love God
and to keep his commandments. In the Gospel Jesus says, ‘If
you love me you will keep my commandments.’ ‘If you love
me…’ The Lord does not want us to live out of fear, or to
obey out of fear, but out of love. At one stage in Matthews
Gospel when Jesus was questioned about what the most important
commandment was, He said that the greatest and most important
commandment is to love the Lord God with all our heart, our mind and
our soul. He added that the second is like it, ‘To love your
neighbour as yourself’ (See Matthew 22:37-39). He concluded
by saying that everything (the whole Law and the Prophets) hangs on
this. These are, you might say, the key things on the path to
heaven.
Jesus also adds in the Gospel that his Spirit will
teach us everything we need to know as we go along. ‘But the
Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name will
teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you.’
The simpler we keep things, the easier it is to
remember what is important. And so we try to love God and we
try and love the people around us, by respecting them, putting up
with them, treating them as equals and trying to see the good in
them. If we keep it simple it remains manageable.
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