Thursday after Ash Wednesday - Becoming Pilgrims of the Heart

"The Lord our God be with us... may he not leave us or abandon us, but incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways" (1 Kings 8:57-58).

    To be a pilgrim is to be willing to live with the mystery of what will happen both interiorly and exteriorly as one walks day after day after day toward the destination of the sacred site. What happens inside cannot be planned or mapped out in the same way that the physical route is mapped. Becoming a pilgrim means there are no maps of the heart. One simply holds onto the hand of the Great Pilgrim and travels wit hope that one day the spiritual benefits of the road will reveal themselves and be understood.
    In being a pilgrim, the journey itself is of prime importance. It is about what happens to us on the way, what takes place in our hearts. What really matters is how we give ourselves to each step along the way. The same is true for our pilgrimage through life. It is how we live, how we respond to what life brings us that creates the difference in our spiritual journey. It is not waiting until death, the endpoint, before we become who we are meant to be. The process of being spiritually transformed into our truest selves happens all along the way.

    This reflection by Sr. Joyce provides for me a comforting challenge -- let me stress the oxymoron here: Comforting. Challenge.
    The comfort comes in the form of a reminder, a reminder that our lives are a spiritual journey. I am comforted to know that, though I may not yet be the person I am called to be, I am where I am now for a reason. I sometimes stop in my tracks, look at my own life from a distance, and ask the question: "How could you possibly be doing what you're called to do... accounting?" There are three legitimate responses to this. 1) The accounting industry is a necessary task in our society, and in particular, the auditing profession essentially provides the same services to society as policemen do... with numbers. The work I do on a daily basis doesn't always fulfill the heart like I imagine preventing violent crime would, but in the big picture, our profession is responsible for significantly limiting the possibility for rampant economic crime. 2) I am reminded of a concept explored in the Book of Mev (by Mark Chmiel), that, no matter the profession, everyone has an opportunity to be a "liberation ________". I can be a liberation accountant. I can think of two ways to apply this: First, to treat everyone I encounter in my job with the love and respect deserved by all creations of God, perhaps even touching their lives in a small way by my actions. And second, I can explore opportunities to apply the skills I will pick up in my accounting profession to serve others in need. 3) The last response, and the one I think this reflection touches on the most, is the idea that this profession is part of my life's journey for a reason. I am called to take my experiences, no matter how corporate on the surface, and apply them to my spiritual journey.
    Therein lies the challenge. I am challenged to ask questions. Challenged to seek discomfort. Challenged to grow, respond, act, change... Challenged to become the person I am meant to be. But let me not get ahead of myself. After all, the greatest challenge is patience.