Have you ever thumbed through guidebooks, studied maps, read articles, asked friends about off-the-beaten-path jewels as you prepared to go on a vacation?  It is cliche to say that preparing for the trip is “half the fun”, but sometimes it really is.  Preparing for the journey may involve taking a journey of imagination.  Even if such research is no more thrilling than packing socks to you, it is still good to do before you head out.

Sometimes we may even plan for a trip that is months or years into the future (at retirement, graduation, or when the child is old enough).  Or maybe, we revisit journeys of the past in our minds: our honeymoon or summer trips to stay with our grandparents.

I do hope that you enjoy journeys this summer, but as I plan for journeys to come and remember journeys past, I wonder how my planning for my journey of faith stacks up in comparison.

It is metaphor, of course, but in our faith we are all pilgrims on a journey.  We are all travelers following Christ our Lord.  Do I, do we, spend the time we need to studying the map of our faith through the Scriptures?   Do we visit the “travel writing” an guidebooks of saints who have gone before us?  Do we get out from where we are and do the discipleship work of loving God and neighbor in word and deed?  Do we stop along the way to take in the beauty, wonder, and joy of the life of faith?

On what journeys are you travelling this summer?

Grace and Peace,

Emile