A Long Way

Dear Friend,

Around the time of my birthday each year, I find myself going back to that day in the fall of 1990 when I discovered A Door in the Hive, a poetry collection by Denise Levertov. A friend had recommended it, knowing that I was discerning my path toward a Franciscan vocation. I pulled it from the shelf of that bookshop in New Orleans and by chance opened it to page six and a poem called “A Traveler” which begins: If it’s chariots or sandals,/ I’ll take sandals…and then, to explain the mysterious choice, these words: I want to go/ a long way/ And I want to follow/ paths where wheels deadlock. 

That was half my life ago – “a long way” indeed - and although you haven’t seen me wearing sandals recently, you’ve certainly seen the brown robe, so you know the gist of what happened when I left that bookstore. 

I had no idea I was already on a path to Santa Barbara, much less that I’d be pastor of a parish community discerning its way toward a deeper and fuller Gospel life in the Franciscan tradition.  

In the first reading for this Sunday, the prophet Zechariah gives us a portrait of a king who shuns a chariot and sits on a donkey. In the Gospel Jesus speaks of his “yoke”, which implies a shared burden of love’s labor entrusted to “little ones”.  

I read and ponder. Wheels really do “deadlock” in our lives, in the church and in the world. Yet I recall the work of God in my own life and the experience tells me to trust. Come to me, says Jesus.  Yes, we are exactly where we need to be to take the next step the Spirit is asking us to take. 

Gratefully,

Fr. Dan ofm, Pastor