Third Sunday of Advent 2009
The other day my four year old daughter told me she wanted to go on a journey. I told her that we would be going to New Mexico for Christmas and asked if that would count. She said, no, that was just a trip, not a journey. Journeys involve going on a quest to find something important and discovering stuff about yourself along the way. So she wanted to find a journey to go on. I explained to her that often the journeys she’s thinking of are often thrust upon people by strange twists of coincidence or fate. Dorothy gets carried in a whirlwind to Oz. Alice falls through the looking glass. Lucy steps through the wardrobe.
And a suspiciously pregnant Mary is forced by the government to journey while heavy with child to the town of Bethlehem.
This week’s Advent theme is that of journeying. Of making our way through life with awareness. Anyone can get along and move ahead. We can go on trips and reach destinations, but it takes awareness to give it meaning. To journey through life requires a commitment to seek after something and to be open to have ourselves changed along the way. We can be scared and unsure of exactly where we are going, but we accept and commit to it nonetheless.
Mary committed to the journey she was thrust into. Despite the ridicule and judgement of those who could count the months between the wedding and due date which is likely the reason there were no rooms for them in Bethlehem, Mary journeyed anyway. Even as the hardship of the journey brought on the pains of labor, she accepted her path. Even as strange visitors praised her son and fear forced them to flee the country, Mary treasured the moments and journeyed on. Bethlehem was just the first stop along a journey that led her eventually to see her son crucified on the cross and the Spirit descend in wind and flame at Pentecost. She was committed to the journey she had accepted no matter the pain it caused her as it unfolded. It is believed that a good deal of our gospel accounts come from Mary telling the story of her journey. This wasn’t someone who proceeded through life unaware. She treasured her experiences in her heart – understanding the significance of the path she was on.
I wish I was more like Mary. Or like my daughter asking to go on a journey. I want to see, truly see, the world around me. I want to seek something truly significant and be willing to let myself be shaped into an instrument of the good along the way. I appreciate this reminder in the Carmelite Advent tradition that Incarnation isn’t just about God coming to us, but also about us choosing to seek and journey after God as well. We choose to follow and to do so with open eyes – building awareness of the ways we can better serve. We choose to journey together.