Pentecost Sunday - Year A - 4th June, 2017
The Road Less Travelled
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost
Choosing the road less Travelled
This poem by Robert Frost is about the choices we make in life. Like the poet, often there are two paths before us – of course we would like to take both at the same time!
We can look back on life and think of the paths we chose. We may have chosen a path which led us to journey with a life-giving friend or we may have chosen a path which involved sacrificing more attractive routes so as to study, to pursue a good career, to care for someone in our lives, or indeed to sacrifice our own desires and ambitions so as to give a better quality of life to some significant other or cause.
Making the wrong choices
Of course we sometimes took the wrong path. However, in our Christian tradition we are greatly consoled that the path of the strayed is often the one traversed by the Good Shepherd and we are pleasantly surprised when He finds us in one of the cul-de-sacs of life.
The Apostles take the less travelled roads
From today, Pentecost Sunday, the apostles receive the gift of discernment, of knowing the life-giving path to choose. Tradition has it St. Thomas chose a path which led him to Kerala in India, St. James to Santiago de Compostela and Mary Magdalene to South East France and, of course, St. Paul journeyed all the way to his martyrdom in Rome.
Choosing the next step
Cardinal Newman wrote the lovely lines: “Lead kindly light, amid the encircling gloom; lead Thou me on......I do not ask to see the distant scene, one step enough for me.”
MAY THE LIGHT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT GUIDE EACH OF YOUR STEPS ON THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED BY. WE PRAY ESPECIALLY FOR OUR YOUNG PEOPLE DOING EXAMS AND THOSE MAKING LIFE CHOICES THESE DAYS.
Fr.Michael McCullagh C.M.
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