Portugal pilgrimage 24 May 3008

Homily preached in Braga Cathedral 24 May 2008 Today we come to the end of our pilgrimage, which has been a journey in many senses for us. Physically, we have travelled from one country to another, and then on to another; but also on a spiritual level we have been on a journey- we have made this week a conscious effort to move on in our lives. Each of us has issues- we know in our hearts what they are, I know what issues I have to work on in my own life- issues which we have been trying this week to make progress with, to move onwards with. We have been on various motorways a lot this week, and how fast we have been able to travel on them- everything that hinders ordinary travel has been removed on motorways- there are no traffic lights, no obstacles in the way, all is smooth and we can just shoot along to our destination with nothing blocking our path. How unlike normal travelling that is- I think of the 484 bus which takes me from St Saviour’s up the hill to my home, how slow it goes, how many things get in its way! And as we sped along those motorways, we could see all the other roads in the valleys and on the hillsides beside us, busy roads clogged with traffic, lanes and byways, little cart tracks going up to the vineyards and so on. They were rather different! Well, we have tried this week to be on a motorway in our spiritual life: we have removed all the obstacles that get in the way at home- our jobs, our routines, the household chores, our families and friends and the demands they make on us and our time- we have had a clear run without them, so that nothing could get in the way of prayer and contemplation, of that practice of reflecting on God’s work in our lives and seeing his hand in everything, that we considered at Fatima, particularly in the devotion of Francisco. But now alas we head for home and we face a return to the byways, the side roads, the dark alleys, the cul de sacs of our lives. In this regard I want to quote to you a French poem I came across this week again: Tous les chemins de Dieu vivant Mènent à Pâques, Tous ceux de l’homme à son impasse: Ne manqué pas au croisement L’auberge avec sa table basse; Car le Seigneur vous y attend. You see there must be in our lives a crossroads, a junction, where our little road can meet the great highway, some roundabout where if we follow the right signs and don’t lose our nerve we can get on to the motorway that will be our fast lane to God, that will shoot us through to the intimacy with him that is our goal. Yesterday we celebrated Corpus Christi here in Portugal and we will again tomorrow back in London. It has been a great blessing for us that we have had all the added insights of that great feast this week, the celebration of the ongoing miracle of Holy Communion, because of course that is where we join the highway- Holy Communion is the great encounter, Jesus himself is the junction through which we enter the divine life, he himself is the Way, that road that leads to God and the fullness of life in his presence. At the crossroads, don’t miss the inn, for the Lord is waiting for us there. This chapel is the Braga turn-off, here in this cathedral we can join the King’s Highway. Here is the altar, and this altar is the inn at the crossroads, don’t miss it! Our Lord is the Host, and he waits to give himself to us and to take us with him in the fast lane to eternal life.