Monthly Archives: August 2018

Narrowed and Wide

I was riding the train in Toronto today – the UP Express. I love the train, with its big windows giving me a chance to look out at the world. I see into people’s backyards and wonder what lives are being led on the other side of their windows. I watch a long string of cars waiting at a red light for their left turn … and feel sad for the folks inside. Life passes me by.

Today was different. I grabbed the last remaining window seat but there was a partition right in front of me. All I had to see out from was a sliver of vertical glass. My eyes tensed up as images came by too fast. I couldn’t linger on anything, and lingering is truly one of life’s pleasures.

And I thought of other things:

What would it be like to have no peripheral vision, just a small circle in the middle for focusing on things?

What would it be like to have a moderate hearing loss, where you can only catch a few words from each sentence?

What would it be like to have the beginning of Alzheimer’s, and you just can’t remember the names of those near and dear?

What would it be like to have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and be racked with terror in the middle of the night?

What would not be touched by a narrowed life? What essence of me would still be there? And could I find it?

In August, 2018, my life is expansive. In August, 2019, it may not be. It’s time to feel into what will always be there.

Holy

I’m in Toronto, staying at the bed and breakfast owned by my friends Anne and Ihor. Two years ago, I was a stranger on the phone, seeking a place to stay. Many conversations later, we are family.

In a few days, these fine folks are headed to the Holy Land for a ten-day tour with fellow members of their Ukrainian Catholic Church. Anne and Ihor are devout Christians.

This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples:
If you have love for one another
(International Standard Version of the Bible)

You look at Anne and you know. She cares for every one of her guests. If the person is a stranger to Toronto, she’s ready with advice about public transportation. Anne spoke deeply at her dear friend’s funeral a couple of weeks ago. And Ihor? He’s absolutely devoted to his high school students, and knows that the curriculum needs to take a far back seat to growing a human being.

Their visit to Jerusalem and Bethlehem, to the Mount, to Gethsemane, and to the Sepulchre, will be a two-way street of radiance – from the symbols of Jesus’ work in our world into two Canadian hearts, and from those same hearts back to their Lord. And by extension, to other human beings, far and wide.

I’m clear to me that Anne and Ihor’s journey isn’t about achieving anything, such as a deepening of their faith. No, there isn’t any deficit here, nothing to improve. My friends go to Israel as an expression of their profound devotion. Sufficient. And all of us who know them benefit.