Thursday, June 03, 2004
Pilgrim life
One of the things my spiritual director and I discussed was the nature of Christian life as a pilgrimage. He encouraged my dissatisfaction as a virtue (as did my previous director). A Christian should indeed be dissatisfied with the way things are, realizing that this life is a mere transition before eternal glory.
Meanwhile, my wife has begun to complain about the early heat waves in Kansas City. Hmm. Southern woman longs for the temperate north. If money were no object, I can see a summer home in Vermont or the Upper Peninsula. Somehow, I think several annual yards of snow might alter her opinion on the other end of the year.
I had a good notion in my mind about settling in KC for nine years minimum (getting Brittany through grade school) and maybe thirteen. On the other hand, kids are troopers. "Dad, you know what I like best about my life," she said several months ago. "Exploring new places." Ah! Another pilgrim.
She was reading aloud some story or other about a family on vacation yesterday. After flubbing a word, she confessed, "Oh, I'm just too excited about going to Branson next week."
I asked my director how he reconciled the stability of monastic life with the notion of pilgrimage. I realize, of course, that geographical stability need not equal spiritual self-satisfaction. I look back upon my various parishes in a different way these days. Heaven knows ego-tripping is more difficult for me when I have to turn over liturgical progress to others. I hope it keeps me on the good path.
