I listened to a wonderful homily today, given by a Capuchin Franciscan Brother. He spoke of maps and compasses, and "Resurrection Eyes". Deeply moving, and powerful.
I am often astounded at the gift religious leaders have for telling a story to relates to a life they have never known.....marriage, parenthood, etc. This Brother had the gift, and shared it beautifully. He used simple and authentic words. They moved me. They answered deep questions. They restored my hope.
The Brother related a story of the modern day "GPS" - handy item to have if you have a propensity to get lost. Program a destination and it gives you directions to guide you. Magically you arrive at your chosen destination....perhaps not the way you would have chosen, but you arrived nontheless.
The precursor to the GPS is the good ol' fashioned map. A bit of skill involved to read it correctly.....understanding the routes, highways, backroads, landmarks, etc. As parents, our job is to work with our offspring to "read the map": the map of choices, the map of life direction, the map of morality, etc. We instruct, we guide, we travel together. We conquer the mountains on the map, we cross frightening waters, we take in the beauty around us. The map may have many common elements for each child, yet is entirely unique for that child. This map and the power to read it, is a gift we give our children. The goal is to send them out into the world with wonderful map-reading skills enabling them to find their way thorugh life.
However, Brother continued, while we have the map as a gift we also have another great gift: a compass. An internal compass that is Christ living in us. This compass can be turned and spun to send us in the direction we choose to go and is always with us. Like the map, it takes a bit of skill to use. Manipulating the direction, turning here and there to arrive at the destination, yet still following the arrow. Different from the map, yet no less handy. The map gives us a glimpse of what lies ahead.....a preview of distance, description of landscape, identification of landmarks. Clues. The compass offers none of that, but a steady point in the right direction. We must learn to use it as a guide.....to trust it, rely on it. Have faith it won't steer us wrong. Have faith we can conquer what the path brings us.
Beautiful imagery for life, and the role of a parent. As I listened, I thought about how my husband and I have used maps to guide our own children. How to send them on a daily journey knowing they will be home again at the end of the day. It is faith (and some assistance from school transportation) that bring them back to the nest. I also thought about my role as a daughter and how I have used the map given to me. Have I learned well? Have I navigated effectively on my own?
As I pondered during the quiet times of the Mass, I am captivated by one thought: how to know when to put the map down and use the compass. As a parent, the challenge is how to know when you have instructed enough and to let the child use the compass.......to let them take the skills learned and apply them. To make decisions. To learn from mistakes. To trust they can find their way. Such a hard lesson.
Parents want to protect their babies, even when they are quite grown up. We want to spare them hurt, hardship, heartbreak. But in using their compass, and the skills from using the maps, they will cross through these minefields and find the destination whatever and WHEREver it may be. Parents have to put their faith in it....that they have done the best they could until this point. Equipped their babies with skills to send them off into the world. Be ready to help them re-direct if they steer off course.
Another point the Brother made about this was about the advantages of using each form of navigation. The map offers some reassurance in showing what may be encountered along the journey. The compass offers a direction without the visual aid. Using the compass requires trust and faith.....and possibility. We can't see what lies ahead but we know something is there. Possibility of success and failure; love and loss; joy and saddness; strength and weakness. All things are possible.
This is where the "Resurrection Eyes" comes in to play. The Resurrection represents the ultimate hope.....if in using/trusting the compass, you look at the world full of possibility, you see the presense of hope. The hope of something really, really good. So, viewing the world with "Resurrection Eyes" requires putting aside the map....the comfort of the clues, to look from what you have infront of you, to the possibility of what you could have. The possibility of something you hadn't considered. The possibility of something greater. It may not be exactly what is on your map.....what you thought you had, what you thought you wanted. Look to the possibility of what else is out there. Hope. Faith.
Thoughts to consider.
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