The Road Less Travelled
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
These immortal words of Robert Frost (1874-1963) ring true in the heart of anyone who has ever felt the call to leave the comfortable path for a more unconventional lifestyle.
We have a certain fascination, but also fear, with those who take radical departures from the course of ordinary life. The 20th century adventurer Hannes Lindemann, who twice paddled his kayak solo across the Atlantic Ocean had this to say about those who choose the road less travelled.
In all of us there is an impulse though it may be deeply hidden to leave behind us our ordinary lives and go beyond the morning to seek our fortunes. This urge is usually thwarted in our time by the restricting responsibilities of family or society. Yet some continue to climb almost inaccessible mountains or to explore the distances of the sea, dreaming of other coasts. And the curious thing is that when this impulse comes to the fore in some individual and is acted on, most men are puzzled; so remote and fantastic, perhaps, do their own dreams seem. (from Alone at Sea)
Lindemann was talking about adventures of the physical kind but what he said equally applies to the moral life. As Christians we have been called to follow a path upon which many are not comfortable to embark.
Today’s Gospel reading, though short in words, is deep in anguish. The family of Jesus are grieving deeply the path Jesus has chosen. They have come to physically take Jesus away to a safe place where they can talk some sense into him. In modern terms we would say they are staging an intervention. In Jesus we encounter a man who has gone down a road in which his life is spent wholly and radically for others. In doing so, he will come to face great opposition and danger.
Today we often forget what a radical Jesus really was. We think of him as soft and cuddly, warming up to children and being kind to strangers. He was all of this but he also was calling those who followed to examine the lives they were leading, to step out of the comfortable shoes of the masses and take a higher road.
Today we celebrate the memorial of St. Agnes. Agnes was a 13-year-old child who was, according to the customs of her day, going to be sold into a marriage. Refusing to follow her family’s wishes she faced the punishment of being thrown into a brothel where she could be abused by men. Through all of this she clung to her faith in Christ even to the point of it costing her life. Would we be able to do the same or do we wear our Christian faith like a comfortable shirt?
St. Alphonsus was fond of using the Italian expression “Pazze” (which means crazy) when talking about God’s love for us. Are we able to be a little bit crazy in showing our love for God? Are we willing to walk the road less taken?
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