Walking Not Alone
I walk the Spiritual Path. This defines who I am, my origins, and my destination. I hail from the dark, primordial sea of my mother’s womb. When I entered the light of day I began my journey on the Path. I always have walked this Path, and I dare say I shall walk it all the days of my mortal existence, there upon I will climb the celestial staircase heavenward.
You may ask, “What motivates me to stay on this Path?” I find that a silly question because every other path I have taken is transformed by the grace of God to being spiritual. As I have said before it doesn’t matter if I move right, left, forward, or backward it is all spiritual.
The more I walk this Path, the more I discover how much I am at home on it. This gives me peace, and centers my life. My confidence in walking the Path comes from a lifetime of walking it. The magic is this, “ What starts as habit emerges as freedom?” Walking the Path becomes spontaneous–time stills with eternity embraced.
What do I see when I am walking the Path? I see people, a lot of people, in all shapes, and sizes. They too are walking their Paths. The exciting point is when paths cross, and for a while we share a common path. There is a beauty to this sharing beyond all measure.
How do we willfully and intentionally share the Path? It may be by sharing food and drink together. A coffee house will do just fine. It may be through song and dance at a nightclub. It may be through hugs and friendship. It may be through teaching and mentoring. It may be through marriage, having a family, and raising children. It may be through showing mercy or through acts of charity. Most definitely, it is through worship, the coming together of the faithful to give praise and worship to the Lord–putting time on hold. Our paths cross when we partake of the sacraments–especially the Eucharist. We willingly and intentionally share paths when we see the mutually divine within each other and celebrate this union. These unions transform our lives giving them warmth, joy, and happiness. Ultimately, it is love from the Father that energizes and moves the feet of humanity along the Spiritual Path.
There comes a time on walking the Path, when the unions that have meant so much to us along the path part for all to various reasons. The union may be gone but the memory it lives on and gives us comfort, direction, and peace. This is a profound lesson–this teaches me humility. I can’t claim that by my own efforts I travel this Path. Others have given their all to support me on my way, and in this I am grateful–they have been Christ to me and I to them. We are social, interdependent beings.
This leads me to say I am not alone on this Path, I walk in community with others. We travel at different speeds. Each has a different gate. Each carry different loads in our satchels, but we walk together and in this we find our mutual strength. There is a spontaneous sharing, both giving and receiving, especially during the rocky times, when the footing becomes difficult, that is when we are truest to the Path and most dependent on and attest to God and His glory.
I am certain that the Path I walk in this life is preparing me for the Path to walk in the next.