The Journey and the Dream
For me the question that arises from the Christmas story of the Magi, or from story of the shepherds for that matter, has never been a question of historical authenticity, but rather one of pure narrative. What did the Magi do after they returned home? What did the shepherds do once they returned to their flocks?
Both had a vision: the one, a choir of angels; the other, a brilliant star. Both journeyed where they were led, and they worshipped. But what then? Where does their story lead?We have journeyed here today guided by a vision, a promise (hopefully not an obligation!). We come to worship. But what then? Where does our story lead?As the New Year gets underway our journey is as dark and treacherous as that of the Magi, and like them we would welcome a guiding light. The uncertainty of the economy and the menace of world tensions make the journey more perilous than anything in recent memory. We struggle for a vision of promise. We yearn for a guiding light. We, like the Magi, are on a journey, searching.In any stressful time, I turn to Franciscan Father Murray Bodo’s challenging poem “The Journey and the Dream.”Both are important,
The Journey and the Dream,
The coming out and the entering in.
Without the Journey,
The Dream is a futile entering into yourself
When you ride a monotonous wheel
That spins around you alone.
With the Journey,
The entering in is itself a Journey
That does not end inside you
But passes through the self and
Out the other side of you
Where you ride the wheel
You found inside.
To remain inside too long
Makes the Journey a fairytale Odyssey
And the Dream becomes illusion.
The wheel must spin on a real road
Where your Dream leads you.
To remain on the road too long
Dims the Dream until you no longer see it
And the road replaces the Dream.
The Journey and the Dream
Are one balanced act of love
And both are realized
Outside the mind.
Our challenge is to make the journey and the dream one. While this new year can easily hold more hazards than promise, to be obsessed with the difficulty of the journey belies the dream and makes it “a monotonous wheel / That spins around you alone.“ To fixate only on the dream of what can be will only makes the journey a “fairytale Odyssey.” Where is the balance? Where is that “One balanced act of love.” Nothing else offers greater consolation and challenge than this Eucharist, the Sacrament of Christ's supreme “one balanced act of love.” As we hear Isaiah’s prophetic promise and Paul’s proclamation of the universality of that promise, we enter the liturgical journey that leads through the Sacrament celebrated at this altar into the world “outside the mind.”
The mandate at the end of our Eucharistic celebration, the former “Ite, missa est,” is translated “Go, you are sent!” or if you will, “Our journey has begun, let us go in peace!” To simply hear the word and celebrate the Sacrament does little to bring the journey and the dream together. We must be willing to take the two and weave them into the tapestry of our daily lives by what we do and say, otherwise “the road replaces the Dream.”Isaiah's vision is more than a promise of earthly prosperity and peace; it is the promise of a New Creation--a world of peace and justice. Paul's proclamation is more than a sermon to the Ephesians; it is a declaration of the equality of all peoples--in society and in the Church!The story of the Magi is our story. As they journeyed through a dark night, following a dream, they finally came to worship and then returned home. But what then? We tease their story, as we tease our own, to see where it leads. Isaiah’s promise, Paul’s declaration of equality, where do they lead us? The Journey and Dream
Are one balanced act of love
And both are realized
Outside the mind.
